


We'll Figure It out as We Go

by Riddle_of_the_sphinx



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Accidental Child Acquisition, Baby Damian, Bruce Wayne does what he wants, Bruce does not know how to raise a baby, Child Cassandra Cain, Child Tim Drake, Detective Riddler, Dorks in Love, Edward has a thing for mystery shows, Edward is new to parenthood, Edward wants a big family, Established Relationship, Family Fluff, M/M, Parenthood, Raising Cassandra, Raising Damian, Raising Tim, Reformed Riddler, Riddles, Sappy, not everyone approves of Bruce's relathionship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-06 04:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5402849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riddle_of_the_sphinx/pseuds/Riddle_of_the_sphinx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Batman goes to investigate a case involving Talia for his boyfriend Edward he ends up finding baby Damian. Bruce doesn’t know how to raise a baby, and Edward is new to parenthood in general. They don’t completely know what they are doing, but they do know that they will figure it out as they go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meet the baby

**Author's Note:**

> I will eventually post this story up on my Fanfiction account Jet Set Radio Yoyo so you will be seeing this story there as well.

Nothing in Gotham is ever simple. That is one of the very first things that you learn about the city if you ever spend any amount of time there, and it’s something that you get hammered into your head almost every day if you actually live there. Bruce hated that fact. His lover Edward actually loved that fact, but Edward always had a bit of a complexity addiction that stuck around even after he stopped being the Riddler and became a private investigator. 

At any rate while Bruce always knew nothing was ever simple that never stopped him from hoping that things could be simple when it came to his super villains. Unfortunately, things were never simple when it came to Talia al Ghul. Talia had been planning something for weeks, and try as she might she couldn’t keep this fact hidden from him or from a very board overly curious Edward. A bunch of scientists and doctors had been kidnapped, and since they were not turning up dead somewhere and no ransom was being sent out it was obvious that they were being gathered up for something big.

Edward of course got curious, and after being hired by one of the scientists’ husbands to find his missing wife Edward officially had an excuse to start investigating. After looking through security footage from every single dang camera that existed in Gotham he finally found some footage of what looked like some League of Assassins members shoving a doctor into a car and driving off. Edward could hold his own in a fight, but an army of trained assassins was way above his pay grade.

So that’s why Batman was called in, and that was how Bruce found himself standing in the hallway of some ancient mansion that was at the very outskirts of Gotham surrounded by a bunch of knocked out assassins. He was unsure of how many assassins he had knocked out, but it had to be somewhere between thirty and thirty-nine. All he did know was that they were very determined to keep him out of the basement. Needless to say they failed in that attempt, and the electronic lock that they had on the door didn’t stand a chance against his cryptographic sequencer.

However, upon opening the doors he almost wished that the lock had kept him out. Upon opening the doors Bruce got a great view of what looked like a scene from a sci-fi horror movie. Lining the walls of the room were human incubators. Or maybe he should have called them artificial wombs. Whatever they were classified as they all had one thing inside them. They all had babies in them, or what was supposed to be babies anyway. 

They barely looked human since most of them were badly mutated. Some had extra limbs growing out of their necks, some had oversized body parts that didn’t fit in at all with the rest of their bodies, and some had their heads caved in like popped balloons. Under all of these incubators were clipboards with word ‘failure’ written in big bold letters on the top. The loud scream of terror that immediately filled the room upon his entrance really didn’t help matters. He glanced away from one of the incubators that had some fleshy blob in it over toward the screaming only to see one of the missing scientists.

The woman was a mess. Her long blond hair was greasy and held back in an extraordinary messy ponytail. She must have been crying a lot before because her mascara had run and dried upon her cheeks creating black streaks of makeup. She had bags under her eyes and it was oblivious that she hadn’t gotten any sleep. She was the absolute picture of terror, but she seemed to be calming down a little. A man wearing a dirty lab coat was behind her looking at Batman with wide eyes. His check was bandaged, and his arm was in a sling. There were other people in the room, and they were all just as exhausted and broken down as the man and the woman.

“Ashley White.” Batman said as he glanced at the woman. 

She just nodded upon hearing her name and Batman’s gaze shifted over to the injured man as he said “James Layton.” 

The man just nodded as Batman shifted his gaze over to the other tired scientists. He looked at each and every one of them as their names flashed through his head one after another. David Smith, Joy Brown, and Augustus Sinclair. They were the scientists who had gone missing and while they looked worse for wear they were alive. 

Batman shifted his gaze over to Ashley and said “Your husband hired Edward Nigma to track you down, and Edward alerted me to your whereabouts. I’m getting you all out of here.” 

Ashley’s shoulders slump in relief as she murmurs “Oh, thank you Billy for sending help…” 

She says it so softly that one would almost think her husband was standing right there and able to hear her whispered thanks.

“What about the baby?” Batman hears Augustus call out his southern drawl seeming to put special emphasis on the word baby.

Batman actually bothers to examine Augustus now. He was a slightly overweight man in suspenders with honey brown eyes. His mouth is set in a straight line as he stares right into Batman’s eyes. 

“What baby?” Batman asks his voice void of any emotion. 

Augustus says nothing to this instead he just turns and starts to walk toward the back of the room. Batman follows him to the back while the others timidly follow the Bat. There in the back of the small basement nestled between two incubators was one with a perfectly normal human baby boy. Augustus sighs as he leans against a nearby wall and gives him a tired look.

“He’s yours chief.” Augustus says as an empty smile briefly crossed his face.

Batman just stared at the baby trying to pick out the features that could possibly link the child to him. It’s surprisingly easy to spot them. The small tuft of black hair that the child had on his head was the same shade as Bruce’s hair, and he definitely had the Wayne family nose. The child’s eyes were not open, but Batman wouldn’t be surprised if the child had blue eyes.

“They were forcing us to make them an heir or a perfect solider or something like that.” Augustus said. “Honestly, I don’t think it matters which one it was since they are probably one and the same when it comes to this group.”

“He’s the only success that we have had.” Joy murmurs from nearby. “All the rest of the children died before they could fully develop, or they were so horribly mutated that they couldn’t live longer than an hour.” 

“They don’t know about the baby yet.” David commented.

Batman was quiet for a moment before he asked “Can the child be taken out of there safely?” 

Ashley sniffled a little before she said “We can take him out. He’s ready to be born in a sense.”

Batman nodded before he said “Take him out. We will take him with us.” 

He turned to look at Augustus since he seemed to be the calmest of the bunch and asked “Did you or any of the people keeping you here keep any digital records of this?” 

Sinclair motioned toward a lone computer that was in the corner of the room. 

“They made us keep records of the failures, but we hadn’t made any files on the successful kid yet.” The man said. 

Bruce nodded before he walked over to the computer. He had a data drive in his belt for things like this, and after plugging it into the computer it immediately started to copy all of the data that it could find. Once it was done he pulled the memory stick out of the computer before he slid it into one of the may pockets of his utility belt. 

He then turned on his communication line that he had with Oracle and asked “Oracle, I got a job for you.” 

“I’m ready for whatever job you have for me.” Oracle chirped.

Batman immediately told her what building that he was in and asked her to destroy all of the data that she could find in the place. She started to do as she was asked, but after a few seconds had passed Batman heard her gasp. He couldn’t say he wasn’t expecting that. Batman knew she would see the files as she deleted them.

“God, did they really…?” She started to say only to trail off.

“They did.” Batman answered. “They had a single success too, and the scientists have informed me that they don’t know about the success. I’m taking him home with me.”

“I wonder how will the Riddler react to you bringing your baby made in a lab home to him?” Oracle joked weekly.

Batman could not help but mentally cringe a little at the fact that she called Edward Riddler and hadn’t bothered to use his real name. He and Eddie had been dating each other for almost two years now, and most of the Bat Family still had yet to use Edward’s real name with any real regularity. Bruce sort of hated that they did that. It was like they were either incapable of seeing Edward as just Edward, or that they thought he would turn back to crime at any second now so they shouldn’t bother using his real name. Edward never seemed bothered by it, but most of Gotham still called him Riddler so Edward was used to it.

“They will get used to me eventually.” Edward had said once, and Bruce knew he was right. 

That still didn’t make the whole thing any easier to handle though. Still, if nothing else at least Barbara had stopped dropping hints that she thought that it was a bad idea that Bruce let Edward move in with him. Batman was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the loud wailing of a baby. He turned toward the noise to see that the scientists had gotten the baby out of the incubator. One of them had wrapped the baby up in a clean lab coat, and between the cries and tears Batman was able to get a look at the baby’s eyes. The child had bright cobalt blue eyes that were the exact same color and shade as Bruce’s eyes. Fully aware of the fact that Oracle was waiting for an answer to her question Batman finally started to speak.

“I don’t know how he will take this, but I do know one thing. He will definitely be surprised…” 

\---------------------------

Edward was never known for being a patient man. Not to say that he couldn’t wait when he had to. When he was a villain planning heists or grand plans to take down his enemies he had to be patient. Some things you can’t just start right away. Sometimes you have to wait for the right moment, or you had to wait until you had everything that you needed to pull off your plan. Edward was no longer a criminal, but he still needed to be patient. He had to wait until contacts can send him the information that he needs for a case, he needs to wait until his potential culprits show up at their usual haunts, and he had to be patient for plenty of other reasons.

He got it and he could wait, but that didn’t mean that he still couldn’t be annoyed at having to wait or complain about it. Edward sighed as he stared out of the many windows that the manor had. Bruce had gone out to investigate a mansion that Edward had been able to track Talia and her assassins to. Edward wished he could have gone along, but like it or not he wasn’t a huge physical fighter. Sure, he could handle himself in a fight. You sort of had to know how to handle yourself in a fight if you were to become a villain or a detective in Gotham. 

However, Edward didn’t think he could take on a whole army of assassins. So all he could do was send Bruce to the place and wait. 

Edward sighed again only to hear Alfred say “Master Edward I don’t think standing at the window sighing all night will make Master Bruce get here any faster.” 

Edward glanced over at Alfred and frowned. For the most part Edward liked Alfred alright. The man used his actual name right from the start, and he never seemed to have an issue with Edward living at the mansion which was more than what Edward could say about most of Bruce’s kids. He could have had issues with Edward being around, but if he did he never voiced it out loud and Edward was grateful for that. 

Aware that he was slowly getting lost in thought Edward shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts before he said “I know I just don’t like waiting.”

“I don’t think anyone likes waiting.” Alfred said with a slight smile. “Might I suggest that you read a book or watch a show to pass the time? It would be better than standing around sighing or pacing around wearing a hole in the poor rug.” 

Edward ran a hand down his face before he said “Yeah, I think I’ll watch some TV in the living room. Can you tell Bruce where I am if you run into him when he gets home?” 

“Of course sir.” Alfred said before he walked away and disappeared into the library. 

Edward knew he was going to the Bat Cave probably to straighten up the cave and wait for Bruce’s return. Edward turned away from the window and quietly made his way toward the living room. Upon reaching the room he plopped down on the couch Netflix and just started up the first episode of Colombo. He had seen the episode and the show plenty of times, but Edward never grew tired of it. Sometimes he and Bruce would sit down and watch detective shows together for a while before Bruce would go out at night as Batman.

It sort of became a little tradition for them to spend an hour every day before Bruce would go out just watching detective shows that Edward felt like watching. It was nice, and Edward enjoyed having that hour where he and Bruce could just sit together and not really worry about the rest of the world. Edward was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard what sounded like someone walking toward the sofa that Edward was sitting on.

“Edward…” Edward heard Bruce call out. 

Edward immediately started to smile as he turned toward his lover.

“Bruce, did you….” Edward started to say only to fall silent when he saw that Bruce had something in his arms. 

His smile faded away and was replaced with a look of surprise when he saw that Bruce had a baby in his arms. The baby was wrapped up in a black blanket, and it looked like the baby was a newborn. Edward blindly reached out and grabbed the remote before he turned the TV off. Bruce quietly shuffled around the couch and carefully sat down on the couch next to Edward. Edward stared at the baby with wide eyes unsure of what to say. Luckily, Bruce saved him the trouble and started speaking first.

“I found the scientists, and called the cops. They know that you sent me to get them so your client should be satisfied.” 

Edward barely registered anything that Bruce said as he continued to stare at the newborn.

“And the baby?”

Bruce frowned as he said “Evidently Talia decided that if I wouldn’t give her an heir then she would make her own. It’s what she needed the scientists for. They made him in an artificial womb. I got the files of the process in a memory stick in the Batcave.” 

“So he’s yours then?” Edward asked quietly.

It wasn’t really a question that he needed to ask. The baby obviously belonged to Bruce. Edward could pick out Bruce’s features with ease, and when the child cracked his eyes open Edward was met with the sight of cobalt blue eyes that were the very same shade as Bruce’s eyes. Still, Edward wanted to hear a verbal answer to really confirm it in his mind.

“He’s mine, and I’m going to raise him. I won’t abandon him.” Bruce safe softly. 

Edward nodded and after a brief moment of hesitation he held his arms out toward the baby silently asking to see the child. Bruce seemed a little surprised that Edward seemed to want to hold the baby. Still, Bruce handed the infant over without a word. The baby was so small and fragile, but the child was definitely a child of Bruce. He had the best scowl that a baby could possibly have plastered onto his face, and the baby looked like he was vaguely annoyed about something.

“Leave it to you to have a kid who looks like he’s angry at the world.”

Bruce let out a small sound of amusement before he said “Your taking this well.”

“Trust me on the inside I’m freaking out.” Edward said. 

He carefully leaned back against the sofa all while making sure not to shuffle the baby around too much. 

Once he was in a more comfortable position he said “However, when we get right down to it freaking out about it won’t do anything. The baby is here, and he’s not going anywhere.”

Edward looked up from the baby and over at Bruce before he said “So we have a baby now, and it’s up to us to take care of him.”

“You’ll help me?” Bruce asked in slight surprise.

“Of course I’ll help you. I’m your boyfriend and I want to help you with this.” Edward said. 

The baby whined a little and Edward quickly lowered his voice as he said “Besides I always wanted a baby, and while this isn’t exactly how I thought I would get one I can roll with it.”

The child continued to whine and Edward slowly started to rock the child. That seemed to please him because the baby quickly quieted down and let out a small sound of content.

“When I was a villain I sort of resigned myself to the fact that I would never have kids. No one was ever interested enough in me to actually want to have a family with me, and my lifestyle back then wasn’t exactly the best one to have a kid in.” Edward said softly. “When I cleaned up my act I started to feel hopeful that maybe one day I could actually have a child.” 

Bruce moved closer to him so that their shoulders were now touching and Edward just smiled a tiny smile.

“I thought maybe years from now I might bring up the subject with you, but I guess I don’t have to.” 

“Yeah, happy early birthday I got you a baby.” Bruce said. 

It was Edward’s turn to snort in amusement now. 

Bruce sighed before he said “I know nothing about taking care of a baby.” 

“News flash I don’t know much about raising a baby either. This is new territory for the both of us.” Edward said.

He turned his head and quickly kissed Bruce’s cheek. That simple action seemed to somewhat put Bruce at ease, and that alone caused Edward to smile.

“We will figure this out as we go.” Edward whispered in his lover’s ear before he looked down at the child in his arms. 

Edward’s gentle rocking had caused the baby to fall asleep, and while the kid still looked like he was extremely annoyed he at least seemed to be comfortable.

“So what do you want to name our new bundle of angry looking joy?” Edward asked. 

Bruce just chuckled before he quickly kissed Edward’s cheek. 

“I was thinking we could name him Damian….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian: Since Damian is being raised by Bruce and Edward from the start he’ll have a bit of a different personality then the Damian in the comics. He’ll still have some of the comic versions traits, but for the most part he’ll probably end up being pretty similar to the Damian Wayne from the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon. 
> 
> Tim: Tim will be around five years old in this story just because I want to have him closer in age to Damian. 
> 
> Cassandra: Cassandra will probably be around the age of four or five when she eventually shows up. 
> 
> Augustus Sinclair: Reference/shot out to the Sinclair in Bioshock 2. No reason as to why I used him it's just a fun reference.


	2. A middle name for Damian

Damian. A baby named Damian Wayne. 

Edward tosses the name around in his head and quietly says the name out loud to himself. The name just seemed to roll off his tongue. It was a name that he didn’t hear often, but the more he said it in his head the more he liked it. That and Edward had always been a bit of a fan for uncommon or unique names and Damian was pretty uncommon as far as names went.

“I like it.” Edward says softly as he looks down at the newborn in his arms. 

The child was fast asleep in his arms, and as Edward watched the newly named Damian sleep he was all too aware of the fact that they really were not prepared for a baby. They needed a crib, baby formula, dippers, and other various things. It was late, but not late enough that they couldn’t get some of the basic supplies.

“We need to get a crib.” Edward muttered out loud. 

“Alfred is already on the job. He saw the baby when I came back to the Bat Cave.” Bruce said.

“How did he react to the baby?” Edward asked with general curiosity.

“He took it rather well.” Bruce said with a slight smirk.

“Alfred takes everything well.” Edward pointed out.

“It does seem like nothing ever fazes him.” Bruce commented before he shook his head. “Alfred stared at Damian for a few seconds before he asked for an explanation. I gave him the quick rundown on everything, and he offered to go out pick up some supplies for us.”

“At least that is taken care of.” Edward said with a slight smile.

His smile quickly faded away as he asked “Now the question is this. What are we going to do about the media?” 

Bruce’s smile quickly dropped when he heard that, and while Edward was a little sad to see it go he had to bring this up. 

“We can’t keep Damian locked away in the manor for his whole life, and you know everyone and their mother is going to want to know why we suddenly have a baby.”

Bruce nodded in agreement as a thoughtful look crossed his face. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes as they both tried to come up with ideas on how to deal with this problem. Edward didn’t know what was going through Bruce’s head. All he knew was that he figured they should be as honest as they could be with this. Damian had a very strong resemblance to Bruce. It was strong enough that no one could deny the fact that Damian was Bruce’s child. That sort of tossed the idea of saying that he was adopted out of the window since Edward knew that many people would not believe it. He had an idea of what they could do for Damian, but before Edward could even suggest it out loud Bruce ended up beating him to it. 

“We could say that we got a surrogate mother to have him for us.”

“I was just about to suggest that.” Edward said. 

He glanced down at the slumbering child for a few seconds before he looked up at Bruce and asked “Do you think you and Oracle could create some papers for him? I know some guys who could do it, but I figured this was something that we would want to keep in the Bat Family as much as possible.” 

Bruce nodded before he said “Barbara and I can make the papers.” 

Bruce didn’t question why Edward called Barbara Oracle. Barbara while always polite had made it clear that she wasn’t too crazy about Edward. They didn’t see each other often, but when they did the conversations they had were always short and awkward. She always called him Riddler whenever they had to interact with him, and if they were talking together in private or around people who were already in on the secret Edward always just called her Oracle. The whole thing was awkward, and Edward felt slightly guilty that he was secretly grateful that he didn’t have to talk to her often. Edward shoved his thoughts about Barbara out of his head as he sighed. 

“The media is going to have a field day with this.” 

“The media was going to have a field day with this regardless of what we did.” Bruce pointed out. “Some people will be hung up on the fact that we had a child together even though we aren’t married, and I’m sure there are people who think a formal playboy will make a horrible dad.”

“There’s also the fact that a formal villain has a child with one of Gotham’s richest men. I can’t imagine that they will like that.” Edward muttered. 

“You are not a super villain anymore, and you do a lot of good for Gotham as a detective. Your status as the Riddler won’t define you forever, and one day the city will know you for the good that you do and not for the bad things that you did in the distant past.” Bruce said with conviction.

Edward offered his lover a week smile as he said “Thanks for the motivational speech, but while that day may come it certainly isn’t today. Also, I imagine that there are people in this city who will never see me as anything other than a criminal.” 

Bruce just pressed a quick kiss to the side of Edward’s head before he said “Their loss. It’s not your fault that they can’t see the good in you.”

Edward’s smile grew a bit stronger as he said “You know you are being a rather cheesy romantic tonight.”

Bruce started to grin at him as he said “I can’t help it. You bring out my inner sappy romantic.” 

Edward rolled his eyes upon hearing that, but he was now grinning too. Edward knew that Bruce said that to cheer him up and it worked. 

However, his mood immediately went down when Bruce said “We are going to have to tell Jason and Dick about this before we do anything else.” 

Edward cringed at the very idea of doing that. Neither Jason nor Dick were overly happy about Bruce being with Edward. However, while Dick had misgivings about the relationship he was at least civil with Edward. He used Edward’s actual name instead of just calling him Riddler which was more than what Edward could say about a lot of people. Jason was loudly vocal about his dislike of Edward, and he never tired of reminding either Bruce or Edward about the fact that he disapproved of the whole relationship. Edward didn’t like dealing with Jason which was fine because Jason didn’t like dealing with him. They had an unspoken agreement that they didn’t deal with each other unless it was absolutely necessary or unavoidable. Bruce could easily see Edward’s unhappiness at the idea of having to deal with Jason and Dick’s reaction to the baby. 

“It’s best that they hear the news from us rather than from the media or Barbara.” 

Edward let out a small annoyed huff before he said “I know.” 

The baby shifted it Edward’s arms and they both fell silent as the child wiggled around, but once Damian had fallen still Edward finally asked “So we are telling them tomorrow?” 

Bruce nodded before he said “Get ready to deal with the fallout of that little discussion.”

Bruce didn’t look too enthusiastic about having to deal with it either. Edward was sort of grateful that he wasn’t the only one not looking forward to the whole thing.

“Master Edward? Master Bruce? I have returned with the things for the baby.” 

Edward jumped a little upon hearing Alfred’s voice. He hadn’t even heard the man walk into the room. Damian snapped awake immediately and started to whine. Edward gently hushed him as he started to rock the child in an attempt to get him to fall back asleep. Bruce hadn’t been surprised at all by Alfred’s appearance, and he just smirked at Edward as the man glared at him. 

“Couldn’t you have told me that Alfred is here?” Edward hissed. 

Bruce shrugged as Alfred said “I’m sorry Master Edward I didn’t mean to startle you.” 

Damian was already settling down and falling back to sleep. Edward just let out a small sigh of relief before he looked over at the butler.

“It’s fine. Damian’s fallen back to sleep so everything is fine.” Edward said.

A small smile graced Alfred’s face as he said “Damian?” 

“It’s what we decided to name him.” Bruce said with a slight smile. 

“It’s a very nice name, sir. What will his middle name be?”

“We haven’t thought of one yet.” Bruce confessed. 

Bruce looked over at Edward and asked “Since I came up with the first name do you want to come up with a middle name for him?”

“I…” Edward started to say only to come to a stop. 

He hesitated for a moment before he was finally able to ask “Are you sure?”

“You are helping me raise him, so he’s your child too. You should be able to help with the whole naming thing.” 

Edward nodded as he glanced down at the baby in his arms. 

As he stared at the baby he heard Alfred say “I placed the crib in the guest bedroom that is next to your room on the left side. I have not placed the crib together yet because I wasn’t sure if you wanted the crib to be somewhere else.”

“Where you put the crib is perfect Alfred. I’ll go set it up now.” Bruce said as he carefully got up off of the couch.

“I can set the crib up for you, sir. You have had a long night.” Alfred said.

“I got it Alfred.” Bruce reassured the man as he left the room. 

Alfred never got the chance to respond because Bruce was out of the room and making his way up the stairs before he could even say a word. Alfred let out a soft sigh before he looked over at the couch were Edward was sitting. He watched them for a moment before he slowly walked over to the couch and sat down. Edward looked up unsure of what Alfred wanted. 

“May I hold him?” Alfred asked.

“Oh, of course.” Edward said as he carefully transferred the baby into Alfred’s arms. 

Damian didn’t wake up, but he twitched a little before he settled down.

Alfred smiled slightly before he said “It’s been awhile since we have had a baby in the Wayne family. Last one we had was Bruce.” 

Edward smiled slightly upon hearing that, but his smile quickly faded away when he heard Alfred ask “Have you thought of a middle name for him?” 

Edward hadn’t thought of a middle name for the baby. Most people usually named their kids after family members, but there was no one in his family that he wanted to name a child after. His father was a man who didn’t deserve to have anything named after him. He supposed he could name the boy after a friend, but Edward didn’t have much in the way of friends. He pretty much cut ties with the rouges that he knew when he reformed, and while he could still be civil with them Edward hesitated to call them friends. 

He was still in contact with his old henchwomen Echo and Query, but he didn’t think Damian would be appreciative of being stuck with the name Diedre or Nina. He was still friends with Penguin since the man had technically reformed and became a legitimate business man, or became what classified as legitimate to Oswald. Oswald might get a kick out of Edward naming his kid after him, but Bruce probably wouldn’t appreciate having his child named after his old foe. Honestly, Edward really didn’t want to name him after Oswald. At any rate Edward did have one idea of what Damian’s middle name could be, but he wasn’t sure how Bruce would react to the suggestion. 

_‘Well, it can’t hurt to ask Alfred about it.’_ Edward thought.

“Alfred, do you think Bruce would mind if I suggested making Damian’s middle name Thomas?” Edward asked.

Alfred looked surprised to hear that, and he quickly asked “Are you sure, sir?”

Edward nodded before he said “Yeah, Damian should be named after a good person and from what I understand Bruce’s father is a good man.”

“He was indeed a good man.” Alfred said with just a hint of sadness in his voice. 

Edward felt a little bad for possibly bringing up any bittersweet memories that were connected to the name Thomas. Luckily, Alfred wasn’t given much time to dwell on Thomas because Bruce entered the room only a few minutes later.

“The bed’s set up.” Bruce said as he approached the couch. 

His gaze went from Edward over to Alfred only to finally stop his gaze on Damian.

“Did you figure out a middle name for him?” Bruce asked with a slight smile. 

“I was thinking we should make his middle name Thomas.” Edward said before Alfred could say a word. 

Bruce appeared to be surprised to hear that, and after a moment of silence he asked “Are you sure you want to name him after my father?” 

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Edward said softly. “The kid should be named after a good man, and there are not exactly any good men in my family.” 

Bruce and Alfred give him an unreadable look upon hearing that. Edward was usually pretty good at reading faces, but Bruce and Alfred were experts at concealing their emotions or thoughts when they wanted to. Edward wasn’t sure if it was just due to natural talent, practice, or a combination of the two but they were masters at it. Edward had no idea what they were thinking, and that annoyed him a little. Edward didn’t like not knowing things. 

Eventfully Bruce smiled a soft gentle smile as he said “Damian Thomas Nigma-Wayne. I like it.” 

“We are adding my last name too?” Edward asks. 

The surprise can be easily heard in his voice. Edward honestly thought they would just stick to Wayne and call it a night.

“He’s your kid too so he gets your last name as well.” Bruce says. 

The way says it makes it clear that there is no arguing over it. Not that Edward wanted to argue about it. He was just surprised that they were actually giving Damian his last name too. A small pessimistic part of himself quietly wondered if Damian having his last name would end up getting the kid bullied by people who would know about Edward’s past as the Riddler, but he wasn’t given any time to dwell on that thought because the sound of Alfred’s voice dragged him out of his thoughts.

“Since the bed has been completed I’ll put the young master to bed. Do you want me to take care of him when he wakes up during the night?”

Edward sort of loved how Alfred said ‘when’ instead of ‘if’. He was sort of hammering home the fact that the kid could and most likely would wake them up often in the night. Edward wanted to say that they could handle it, but Bruce ended up saying it for him.

“No, I think we can handle it.”

“Are you sure?” Alfred asked. 

Edward just nodded before he said “Yeah, besides isn’t waking up at one in the morning to feed a screaming baby part of the parent experience? If we are going to be parents we might as well go all the way with this.”

Alfred chuckled a little upon hearing that before he said “Bruce’s mother said the same thing when I offered to take care of Bruce when he woke up in the night.”

Edward is unsure of how to react to that. Amused that Martha Wayne had the same mindset as him when it came to parenthood, or a little sad that he might have brought up painful memories? Bruce just looks amused at this little bit of information. A hint of sadness is there as well, but even the happiest of memories of Bruce’s parents were bittersweet at the best of times.

“Great minds think alike I suppose.” Bruce eventually says before the brief moment of silence can become awkward.

“I’ll go ahead and put the baby to bed. I did buy some baby monitors while I was out getting the necessary supplies. It should be in the kitchen along with the baby formula. The dippers and other supplies are already in the baby’s room.” The butler says. 

“Thank you Alfred.” Bruce says. “I’ll grab the monitor and set it up.” 

Alfred nods before he gets up out of his seat and leaves the room to put Damian to bed.

“I’ll meet you upstairs.” Bruce said before he turned and walked out of the room. 

Edward sat there for a few seconds before he finally got up and made his way upstairs. As he walked along toward his and Bruce’s shared bedroom he passed by Alfred. The butler just dipped his head in greeting before he disappeared into his own room. Edward slipped into his and Bruce’s bedroom and immediately changed into his pajamas. By the time he was done changing Bruce walked into the room with the baby monitor in hand.

“Everything is all set up.” Bruce said as he placed the monitor down on the bedside table that was next to his side of the bed. 

“Great, then we should go to bed. I imagine Jason and Dick will be coming tomorrow so we probably want to be up early to get ready for that.” 

“They will be here tomorrow. The sooner we tell them the better. Barbara can keep quiet for a while, but I don’t want to test our luck.” Bruce said as he got dressed into his own pajamas. 

Edward sighed as he climbed under the covers. He really wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow. Bruce flicked the lights off and after a couple of seconds had passed he felt and heard Bruce climb into bed. Edward feels Bruce wrap his arms around him and pull him toward him. Edward smiled slightly at the feeling of Bruce’s broad chest pressed against his back before he closed his eyes and slowly drifted to sleep…..

\----------------------------

_‘God, Damian can scream.’_

That was the only thought that Edward could think when he was rudely awakened by the loud crying of Damian coming from the baby monitor. The baby monitor must have been a top notch or something because the sound quality was incredibly clear and it sounded like the baby was there in the room with them.

“Ed. Baby.” Was Bruce’s muttered response to the crying baby.

“So I have to be the first one to get up to take care of the baby?” Edward asked. 

Bruce just waved a hand vaguely in the direction of the door before he dropped it back down on the bed. Edward was sure he heard Bruce mutter the words ‘you’ and ‘parent experience’. 

The brunette was sure that Bruce was trying to say “You wanted to have the full parent experience.” 

Edward rolled his eyes but untangled himself from Bruce’s arms and got out of the bed. A quick glance at the clock by his bedside told him that it was about one in the morning. Edward quietly left the room and walked into the room that had been made into Damian’s room. A crib was standing next to an actual bed, and on the bed were bags full of baby supplies.

 _‘We really need to turn this room into a nursery once we get the time.’_ Edward thought as he approached the crib. He reached down and carefully picked the baby up. 

“Hey, buddy there’s no need to scream. I’m here.” Edward said softly. 

Damian just ignored the words of comfort in favor of continuing to scream his lungs out. A quick check of his dipper showed that the kid was dry so he must have been hungry. 

“Come on let’s make you a bottle before you wake up the whole house.” Edward said as he carried the child out of the room and down to the kitchen. 

Damian cried the whole way down, and no amount of soothing words convinced the child to turn down the volume. Luckily, Edward found the baby formula easily enough, and the instructions to prepare a bottle were easy enough to follow that even the stupidest of people could do it. As the bottle was being made Edward made sure to grab a small washcloth out of a drawer to drape over his shoulder.

He knew babies spit up pretty often so he should be prepared. The washcloth was a little small, but Damian couldn’t spit up that much so Edward figured it was fine. The second the bottle was ready and close enough to Damian’s mouth the child immediately latched on and started sucking like his life depended on it. Heck, Edward was a little worried that he might be drinking a bit too fast.

“You don’t have to be so frantic about it. The bottle isn’t going anywhere.” Edward told the baby with some slight amusement. 

Damian ignored him in favor of focusing all of his attention on the bottle. When he was done he deposited the bottle into the sink to be cleaned latter before he burped the baby. It didn’t take long to burp the kid, and as expected there was some spit up. However, the baby ended up spitting up more than Edward expected. The tiny washcloth wasn’t enough. Edward froze at the feeling of slimy spit up slowly trailing down his back. The man surpassed a shudder as he held the baby up so that he was looking directly at him.

“Remind me to use a towel next time I have to burp you.” Edward said. 

Damian just gave Edward a vaguely annoyed look in response….

\-----------------------

Two hours later and Damian was crying again. Edward just groaned as he pulled the blanket over his head and said out loud over the crying “It’s your turn to deal with the baby.” 

Bruce grunted, but after a few seconds of just lying there Bruce finally got up and started to walk toward the door.

Edward figured he should probably warn him about the spit up so he pulled the blankets down from over his head and said “If you end up feeding Damian make sure to have a towel on your shoulder or something big like that.”

Bruce just gave him a confused look as he asked “Why?”

“Babies spit up a lot.” Was Edward’s only answer.

Bruce just rolled his eyes as he said “They can’t spit up that much.”

“Don’t be so sure about that….” Edward muttered as Bruce disappeared out of the room.

A couple seconds later he could hear Bruce over the baby monitor talking to a crying Damian. Edward listened to him until he heard Bruce take Damian out of the room most likely to go make him a bottle. Once it was quiet Edward closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep. Right when Edward was just about to drift back to sleep he heard Bruce enter the room. He didn’t think anything of it, but when he heard Bruce open up the closet doors Edward cracked his eyes open. 

“What are you doing?” Edward asked. 

The moonlight that was shining into the room gave Edward just enough light to see that Bruce was shirtless and pulling a black t-shirt out of the closet. In his other hand was the shirt that he had previously been wearing, and if Edward wasn’t mistaken he was sure that he could see something staining the back of it.

“I should have taken your advice about the towel.” Bruce deadpanned. 

Edward blinked a few times in confusion as his tired mind tried to process what Bruce was talking about. However, once he figured it out Edward couldn’t help but laugh. He must have looked and sounded like a loon as he chuckled gleefully at three in the morning, but he didn’t care. If the full parent experience could provide laughs like this then Edward didn’t mind having to wake up at one in the morning every night to deal with the cranky spit up champion that was Damian Thomas Nigma-Wayne…


	3. Kids, meet your new brother

When Edward woke up he was more tired than he had ever felt in a while. Damian woke them up about four times so both he and Bruce had to get up to take care of the child at least twice. Edward slowly untangled himself from Bruce’s arms and made his way over to the closet. He heard Bruce let out a slight grunt when Edward left the bed only to roll over and fall right back asleep. Edward tried his best to be quiet as he quickly got dressed, and he did his best to make as little noise as possible as he picked up his laptop off of his bedside table. 

He snatched the baby monitor off of Bruce’s bedside table before he carefully slipped out of the room. He was awake now so he could take care of Damian while Bruce slept. Bruce had been fighting ninjas almost all night yesterday for him so Bruce deserved to get some extra sleep. He got downstairs rather quickly, and upon reaching the dining room he saw Alfred sitting at the table. Upon spotting the man Edward immediately gave him his daily riddle.

“What invention lets you look right through a wall?” Edward asked as he sat down in the seat that was across from Alfred. 

The butler took a quick sip of his tea before he said “A window, and good morning to you too Master Edward.” 

“You know I’m convinced that Bruce got his riddle solving skills from you.” Edward said with a slight smile. 

Every morning Edward would ask Alfred a riddle, and every morning the butler would answer the riddle correctly. Trying to stump the butler every morning became a fun little game to Edward. He had yet to stump the man, but just trying to do so was proving to be pretty amusing. The fact that Alfred was actually proving to be a worthy challenge was just perfect to Edward. Edward was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Alfred chuckle slightly.

“Bruce always loved games that challenged the mind. His mother and I just helped foster that love.” The man said.

“At least you fostered that love. Not everyone does.” Edward said as he placed his laptop down on the table and opened it up. 

He could feel a shadow of a memory drifting in his mind of the time that his father screamed at him when he dared to ask him a riddle, but Edward quickly shook it away. So far this was turning out to be a nice morning. There was no reason to ruin it by having a miserable trip down memory lane. He could see Alfred giving him an unreadable look, and Edward knew that the man probably knew what Edward had been thinking about when he said what he said. Mercifully, instead of saying anything about it Alfred decided to change the subject.

“I see you have the baby monitor with you. Did young Damian wake you up a lot last night?” He asked. 

“Four times in total. We each had to get up with him twice.” Edward said.

“It’s a lot, but truthfully I was expecting him to wake you up more than that.” Alfred said as he finished his cup of tea.

“Give it time I’m sure a miserable night of no sleep is just around the corner.”

Right after Edward said that the loud shrill cry of a baby rang out from the baby monitor. Edward flinched a bit from the sudden loud noise while Alfred was completely unaffected. 

Alfred just chuckled a little before he said “Welcome to the joys of having a newborn Master Edward.” 

The man then picked his empty cup up before he got out of his chair and disappeared into the kitchen. Edward leaves the baby monitor on the table beside his laptop and leaves the room. No point taking it with him since he knows that Damian is crying. Edward makes it to the stairs in record time and he waists no time in climbing the stairs up toward Damian’s room. It’s quiet at first, but once he gets close enough to Damian’s door he can hear the wailing through the thick wood of the door.

 _‘The kid definitely has a pair of lungs on him.’_ Edward thought.

The rooms were almost sound proof so the fact that Damian’s crying could be heard so well was almost impressive. Edward opened the door and quickly slid into the room. He closed the door behind him and hurried over to the crib. As he carefully removed Damian from the crib the nasty smell of a dirty diaper assaulted him. Edward cringed a bit at that, and he wasn’t cringing just because of the smell. 

He had to change his first diaper around four in the morning, and it had been horrible. It was messy, it stunk to the high heavens, and it was only through sheer luck that Edward was able to keep Damian from slamming his feet into the dirty dipper as Edward was trying to move it away. It wasn't a pleasant experience, and it really wasn't an experience that Edward was looking forward to reliving.

For a brief second he was almost tempted to ask Alfred to come and change him. However, that only lasted for a second.

“Come on Damian let’s get you changed.” Edward said as he walked over to the bed. 

The blanket that Edward had placed on the bed last time when he changed Damian’s dipper was still there thankfully. Also, this time Damian didn’t kick his legs around so much so Edward didn’t have to be on high alert and make sure that the kid didn’t kick the contents of his dipper everywhere. The dipper was still disgusting, but it’s not like Edward was expecting anything else. Once Damian had been changed Edward went ahead and dressed the boy into a new set of clothing.

“Shall we see what sort of clothing Alfred got you?” Edward asked as he started to dig through the first shopping bag that he could get his hands on.

A small yawn was the only response the brunette got. Edward found a blue one piece with a little cartoon wolf howling on it. Edward liked it well enough that he put the outfit on Damian before he placed the boy into the baby seat carrier that Alfred had also brought. Once Damian was buckled in Edward grabbed the handle of the carrier and started to make his way back to the dining room. Alfred still wasn’t quite done with breakfast, but the scent of cooking food was already drifting about in the air. 

A cup of hot coffee was on the table waiting for Edward. Edward couldn’t help but smile just a bit when he saw that Alfred had put his coffee into his favorite coffee mug. The mug of course was a simple green cup with a purple question mark on it. It was one of the few things that Edward brought with him when he moved into the manor. Edward shook this thought out of his head as he placed the baby carrier down on the table. Damian had already fallen back to sleep on the way down to the dining room so Ed didn’t have to worry about him. 

He turned on his laptop and once it was on Edward immediately checked his e-mails. The first was from a man requesting to meet with Edward to talk about his sister. His sister had gone missing about a week ago and the man was worried. Edward thought for a moment before he agreed to meet him and quickly set up a meeting with him on Saturday. The next e-mail was from Billy thanking him for finding his wife, and that his payment had already been set up. He also said that he might drop by Edward’s office to thank him personally. Edward had a few other messages from the other scientists thanking Edward for sending Batman to save them. 

Edward smiled a bit upon seeing that as he saved the e-mails. E-mails of thanks like this meant a lot to Edward. It felt nice to be appreciated, and some of the e-mails that he got were sometimes the most heartfelt letters that Edward had ever gotten. When he felt down he always liked looking at the e-mails like this because they always made him feel better. He sent a few messages to the people telling them that he was happy to help, and that that Billy didn’t need to thank him in person. Since he just finished a big case he didn’t really have any other e-mails so he went ahead and closed his laptop.

The second the laptop clicked closed Alfred came out with a tray full of food. Today it was omelets for breakfast which was great to Edward because Alfred made some pretty great omelets. As Alfred set up the table he smiled a bit when he saw the slumbering baby. 

“Already asleep, huh?” He asked as he placed Edward’s food down in front of him as Edward placed his laptop aside on the table where it wouldn’t be in the way.

“He fell asleep on the way downstairs.” Edward said. 

As soon as he finished saying that Bruce came lumbering into the room. The man looked like he was barely awake, and to say that Bruce looked like a dazed zombie would be a pretty apt description. 

_‘Back then if someone said that I would ever see Batman like this I would have laughed.’_ Edward thought as he took a quick sip of his coffee. 

After standing there a few seconds Bruce’s brain must have finally woken up enough for him to finally be able to move over to Edward. Edward looked up and Bruce knelt down and kissed Edward on the lips. Edward eagerly kissed Bruce back. Bruce always gave Edward a morning kiss before he did anything else. It was a little morning tradition, and it was a tradition that Edward loved. Bruce broke the kiss and stood up and looked over at Damian. It took a few seconds for Bruce’s brain to register that Damian was there, but when it finally did Bruce smiled a little.

“You bring him down?” Bruce asked.

“He started crying after I got up, so I changed him and brought him down.” Edward said. 

Bruce nodded before he knelt down and pressed a quick soft kiss to the top of Damian’s head. The baby shifted a little but didn’t awaken. Alfred just smiled a little as he held out a black coffee cup toward Bruce.

“Coffee Master Bruce?” 

“Thank you Alfred.” Bruce said as he took the cup from Alfred.

Alfred disappeared back into the kitchen and Edward just ate is breakfast silently. He wanted to ask Bruce when he planned to call Dick and Jason and have them come over to meet their new brother, but he wanted to give Bruce a moment to really wake up and enjoy the peace before he brought the topic up. While Edward wasn’t looking forward to the boys coming over there was no doubt in Edward’s mind Bruce wasn’t looking forward to the fallout either.

Still, Edward was eager to ask his question and after Bruce had drank about half his cup of coffee Edward finally asked “When are you going to call Dick and Jason?” 

Bruce lowered his cup away from his mouth and said “I planned on calling them after breakfast.” 

Edward nodded before he said “Will Barbara come?” 

Bruce made a slight shrugging motion before he said “I don’t know. She already knows about Damian, but I imagine that she wants to see him.” 

Edward nodded before he said “Make sure to tell me when they are coming after you call them. I want to have as much time as I can possibly get to mentally prepare for their visit.”

Bruce nodded before he said “I’ll let you know the second I’m done talking to them.” 

Edward nodded as he looked down at his half-finished omelet and mentally sighed. Today was going to be a long day Edward knew it….

\---------------------------------------------------------

Bruce frowned slightly as he sat in his office and stared at his cellphone. He had to call the boys, but he wasn’t sure which one to call first. Jason would probably be snarky and possibly passive aggressive depending on what mood he was in. He might also be hard to get a hold of because Jason had a bad habit of never having his phone with him when someone needed to call him.

 _‘Might as well get Jason done with first since he will be the hardest one to deal with.’_ Bruce thought as he opened up his contact list and scrolled through the numbers. 

Upon finding Jason’s number he hit the call button and waited for Jason to pick up. The phone rang for a while and just when Bruce was about to be sent to voicemail Jason finally picked up. 

“What?” 

“Hello to you too Jason.” Bruce said upon hearing Jason’s annoyed greeting. 

“Why are you calling me so early in the morning? Did Riddler finally snap and return back to his criminal ways?” Jason asked.

He sounded pretty unenthused when he said that so it was obvious that he didn’t honestly think Edward had done anything, but Jason just could not resist making the jab at Eddie. 

“No, Edward hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s Talia that’s done something.” Bruce said. 

That seemed to have captured Jason’s attention because he sounded a lot more alert when he asked “What did she do?” 

“It’s a long story, and I need to explain it in person. I need to explain it to Dick as well.” Bruce said. “I need you to come to the manor.” 

Jason was silent for a moment. Bruce had no doubt in his mind that Jason was thinking about if he should even come down or not. 

Eventually Jason finally said “I’m free today so I can come down whenever. When should I come?” 

“I haven’t called Dick yet so I don’t know if he is free. I’m going to call him after I’m done talking to you and once we get a time figured out I’ll text you.”

“Are we going to be the only ones listening to this? What about Barbara?”

“Barbara already knows what’s going on, but she might come anyway. I’m going to talk to her after I talk to Dick.” Bruce said.

“Fine, I guess I’ll see you later then.”

Jason hung up before Bruce could even respond. It was a little rude, but not unexpected. Bruce was just happy that the call went as well as it had. He was about call Dick, but he stopped himself and sent a quick text to Barbara. 

_Do you want to come over today?_

It only took about a minute for Barbara to respond.

 _To see him?_

It was nice to see that Barbara already knew why he was asking if she wanted to come over. Bruce wasted no time in responding.

_Yes, I called Jason and he will be here. I’m about to call Dick and ask when he will be able to come over. We will be telling them the news._

Again Barbara was quick to respond. 

_I’ll be there. Can you ask Alfred to pick me up?_

He could do that. He sent a quick text telling her that he would have Alfred pick her up and when to be ready to go. Once that was done he called Dick. Dick didn’t take nearly as long as Dick to answer, but Dick had always been better about answering his phone.

“Hello Bruce.” Dick chirped.

“Hello Dick.” Bruce said with a slight smile.

Dick sounded cheery and energetic. Dick usually always was in the morning. The boy was definitely a morning person unlike Bruce and Jason.

“Are you doing alright? Riddler hasn’t caused any problems?”

Bruce’s smile fell a bit upon hearing that. He wasn’t surprised to hear it, but he never liked the fact that the first thing his kids asked was if Edward had done anything bad. The fact that they never used Ed’s real name also bothered him as well. 

“Edward hasn’t done anything bad.” Bruce said all while putting special emphasis on the fact that he was using Edward’s real name. 

Dick took in a breath and was about to say something, but Bruce cut off whatever he was going to say by saying “Talia has done something. I have some things that I need to tell you and Jason, and there is something that I need to show you. Can you come over today?”

“I’m free today. Any specific time?” Dick asked.

“No, Barbara and Jason can come over whenever, but I didn’t know if you were busy.” “No, I don’t have any real plans today other then checking my equipment and fixing a few things around the house. How about three in the afternoon?”

“Three is fine. I’ll let the others know.” Bruce said. 

“Alright, I’ll see you later then.” Dick said before he hung up.

 _‘So far so good.’_ Bruce thought as he started to walk out of his office. He needed to find Alfred and ask him to pick up Barbara, and he needed to tell Edward to be ready for the arrival of the Bat Family…. 

\------------------------------------------

Bruce sat in his chair in front of the Bat Computer tapping his fingers down against the arm of his chair. Barbara was sitting nearby her eyes trained on the blank screen of the computer. She hadn’t seen Damian yet. Bruce wanted her to see him at the same time as the boys.

“When are they going to get here?” She asked. 

“They should be here any minute now.” Bruce said. 

As soon as those words left his mouth the sound of a motorcycle’s roar filled the cave. Both Bruce and Barbara glanced over toward the noise only to see that it was Jason. Jason parked his motorcycle in its usual spot. Alfred walked out to meet him, and after motioning up toward the area where the computer was Jason quickly made his way up to where they were.

“The Boy Wonder from Blüdhaven not here yet?” Jason asked once he got close enough.

“No, you are the first to arrive.” Barbara answered. 

The sound of another vehicle soon filled the room and Jason just said “Sounds like he’s here now.” 

A few minutes later Dick was walking toward them with Alfred following close behind. Upon spotting everyone waiting at the computer Dick asked “Where is the Riddler? I thought he would be here.”

“Unless Bruce finally realized that it’s not a good idea for the Riddler to be here and finally banned him from going into the Batcave.” Jason said.

“Jason…” Bruce said with a hint of warning in his voice.

Jason just crossed his eyes and looked away in annoyance. 

“You will be seeing Edward later. Right now I have something to show you.” Bruce said as he brought up the files of the failed babies that had been in the League of Assassins hideout.

The files included pictures. None of the pictures were pretty to look at, but the four pictures on the screen now were some of the worst. In the first picture was that of a baby that had its legs fused together, in the second picture was an unrecognizable fleshy blob, in the third was a baby with multiple arms, while the fourth picture was that of a baby with open sores and missing limbs. 

Dick let out a slight gasp of shock while Barbara stared at the screen with a frown on her face. She had already gotten a glimpse of this when he had destroyed the files on the League’s computer so this wasn’t anything new to her. It still wasn’t a nice thing to look at. Jason stared at the images with wide eyes. His hands quickly dropped to his side and his hands curled into fists. Jason always had a soft spot for kids, and he hated seeing kids being hurt in any way.

“What is this?” Jason practically growled out.

“Talia decided that if I would not give her an heir she would make her own.” Bruce said. 

Jason seemed to be at a loss of what to say upon hearing that.

“And these are her attempts at making an heir?” Dick asked slowly. 

It really wasn’t a question that needed to ask. They knew the answer, but Bruce still nodded and said “They are.” 

Bruce looked away from the people gathered around him and up at the computer screen.

“Some scientists had gone missing, and the husband of one of the missing scientists had hired Edward to find his wife. Edward had been able to figure out who took them, and where they were taken. He asked me to go in and find them.” 

“And it was there that you found failures?” Dick asked. 

“And all of the data on them. I had Barbara destroy all of the digital files that they had on the experiments so she already knows about all of this.” Bruce said. 

“You find Talia?” Jason asked with a slight hint of anger in his voice.

If Talia had been in the room Jason would probably have been trying to skin her alive by now.

“No, she was not there. There was something else there.” Bruce said. 

Barbara didn’t say anything since she already knew what he was talking about, but the boys gave him confused look. However, the confusion didn’t last long because both for the boys were quick to figure out exactly what Bruce was trying to imply.

“There was a success wasn’t there?” Dick said. 

Bruce nodded before he said “There was a single success. From what the scientists have told me Talia and the League of Assassins don’t know about him, and they hadn’t made any records on him yet.”

“He’s here then? At the manor?” Jason asked.

Bruce nodded before he said “He’s with Edward right now.” 

“You left him with that psycho?” Jason hissed. 

“Jason, that’s enough! I know that you are not fond of Edward, but he has reformed and hasn’t done anything wrong for almost two whole years now!” Bruce snapped. “Like it or not Edward will be another parent for Damian, and he will be helping me raise him.” 

“The kid is screwed then.” Jason said with a slight hiss.

“Master Jason let’s please not try to not start a fight.” Alfred said.

Jason rolls his eyes and mutters something under his breath, but doesn’t bother to continue the fight. Bruce can already feel a headache coming in. He’s going to need some aspirin once this meeting is done. 

“Damian?” Barbara says out loud.

She does not sound confused, but she does sound a bit surprised that Bruce and Edward had apparently already came up with a name for the baby.

“Damian Thomas Nigma-Wayne. It’s what we decided to name him.” Bruce had his eyes trained on Jason as he said the name almost as if daring Jason to say something about the fact that the baby had Edward’s last name included in his name. 

Jason wisely said nothing. He just continued to glare at Bruce silently. 

“Thomas, huh?” Dick said with a slight smile. 

He knew that Thomas had been the name of Bruce's dad. Dick saying the name was probably his attempt to bring down the tension that was growing between Bruce and Jason.

“It was Edward that gave him that name. He said that Damian should be named after a good man.” Bruce said as a slight smile briefly graced his face.

Jason’s glare grew a bit softer upon hearing that while Barbara just appeared thoughtful. It seemed that Dick's attempt to lower the tension was a success, and Bruce was grateful for that. He really didn't want to get into a fight with Jason. Bruce turned the Bat Computer off and looked back over at Dick, Jason, and Barbara and gave them a slight smile.

“Come on I think it’s time that you met Damian.” 

\--------------------------------------

“I swear the way you eat makes it seem like we don’t ever feed you.” Edward informed the baby in his arms. 

The baby was concentrating deeply on getting every single drop that he could out of the bottle. It was a little funny to watch, but it wasn’t enough to keep Edward’s mind off of the fact that Dick, Jason, and Barbara would be here at the manor. Heck, they were probably already here. Edward was sitting on the living room couch waiting for Bruce to take them here. Bruce thought it would be best if he told them about Damian and where he came from first in the Batcave rather than have them walk through the door and immediately see the baby. 

That made sense to Edward, and honestly he wasn’t going to complain about having a couple more minutes of peace. When Damian finished the contents of his bottle Edward placed the empty bottle down on the coffee table before he grabbed the towel that he had brought with the living room with him and swung it over his shoulder. He burps the baby, and this time he doesn’t spit up nearly as much.

“Of course you don’t spit up as much when I start using an actual towel.” Edward says as he slides the towel off of his shoulder and drops it down on the table all while being careful not to get any spit up on the table. 

Alfred had just cleaned the room, and Edward didn't want to make a mess so soon after the butler had cleaned it. The baby didn't care much to listen to Edward babble because Damian was already starting to fall asleep in his arms.

“Falling asleep already, huh? You fall asleep faster than Bruce does after a tough night out as Batman.” Edward said softly.

 _‘Not that I’m complaining about that.’_ Edward thought. 

Damian shifted slightly in his arms as a little yawn escaped from his mouth. Edward smiled as he pressed a gentle kiss to the child’s forehead. He was about to place the baby into his carrier so that he could sleep, but Edward froze in his spot on the couch when he heard someone loudly clear their throat. He stays frozen in place for about five seconds before he quickly turns his head and looks over at the doorway behind him. Standing there were Bruce, Alfred, Jason, Dick, and Barbara. Bruce and Alfred had slight smiles on their faces while Dick and Barbara had slight frowns on their faces. 

They didn’t look upset per say, but Edward had a hard time trying to figure out what was going through their heads. As for Jason the boy was clearly studying Edward. He arms were crossed while a thoughtful look had embedded itself upon the young man’s face. It was almost like Jason was trying to figure out a puzzle. Edward was good at reading thoughtful looks. He had lost count of the number of times that he had seen looks like that when people tried to solve his riddles or puzzles. His years as the Riddler had also given him plenty of opportunities to see the thoughtful looks of every member of the Bat Family. 

Edward mentally shakes any of his thoughts about thoughtful looks away as he asks “How long have you guys been standing there?”

“We came in right when you were trying to get the towel off of you shoulder.” Barbara said as she wheels herself into the room. 

The others follow her in and start to park themselves into the various seats that are spread out throughout the room. Bruce sits down on the couch next to Edward while Dick plops himself down in an armchair next to Bruce. Barbara parks her wheelchair next to Dick’s seat while Jason sit’s in the empty couch that was close to Edward. Edward said nothing about the fact that Jason sat on the edge of the couch that was the farthest from Edward.

“Shall I get any refreshments?” Alfred asks.

Everyone declines the offer some more loudly then others. With nothing more to do the butler ends up sitting on the couch next to Jason. Jason doesn’t seem to mind, but Jason was too focused on staring at Edward to really give much notice to anything else. It was rather unsettling. If anyone in the family had mastered Bruce’s harsh stares and glares it was Jason. While Dick had a pretty good glare of his own it didn’t hold a candle to the looks that Jason could give people. Jason could send a shiver down someone’s spine just as easily as Bruce could. Edward can’t help but unconsciously hold the baby a bit closer to him as Jason stares him down.

“Can I…?” Barbara started to ask only to fall off into an awkward silence. 

_‘Can I hold the baby?’_ Was the question that she was obviously trying to ask. If anyone else had been holding Damian she would have asked the question with ease. However, with Edward it was a bit more complicated.

_‘It’s always complicated when it involves me.’_ Edward thinks as he tries his best to keep a bitter smile from crossing his face. 

The prince of puzzles making things complicated without even trying to. A joke could probably be made about that. Edward sort of doesn’t want to give Damian to her, but he doesn’t let that hesitation show. Instead he stands up and walks toward Barbara. She reaches out toward him and Edward gently places the baby in her arms.

“Careful with his head.” Edward says without meaning to.

“I know. I have held a baby before.” She says.

Her voice as a bit of a sharp edge to it like she was about to get snippy with him but was somehow able to hold herself back. Dick leans over the arm of his chair to get a closer look at the baby. 

He coos softly at the child before he says “Kid has one heck of an angry face going on.” 

_‘Damian always has an angry face going on.’_ Edward thought, but he didn’t say that out loud. 

Barbara handed Damian over to Dick so that the boy could have a chance to hold his new brother.

“So what are going to do with him?” Dick asked once the baby was safety in his arms. 

Dick had a small smile on his face as he looked down at his new baby brother. He gently runs a finger down Damian's tiny knuckles and his smile grows a bit bigger when Damian opens his hand up only to clinch it back into a tight fist a few seconds later. Barbara watches as a slight smile appears on her face. It seemed that they were already becoming enamored with the newest member of the Wayne family. 

“You can’t keep him locked up in the manor until he’s an adult.” Jason says as if Bruce and Edward needed to be reminded of that fact.

“We are going to say that we had a surrogate mother have him for us. It was the easiest and most believable lie that we could come up with.” Bruce said. 

He looked over at Barbara and asked “Barbara, can you forge some paperwork for Damian and help me create some records for the pregnancy.” 

Barbara nodded before she said “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Thank you Barbara. I really appreciate the help.” Bruce said. 

Barbara smiled and nodded while Dick slowly sat up. He offered to let Jason hold the baby, but Jason just shook his head. 

“It’s alright. I don’t have any experience holding a baby, and I don’t want to accidentally drop him or something like that.” Jason said softly. 

Dick just gave his younger brother a calculating look, but he evidently decided not to say anything because he just put Damian into his carrier.

As Dick slipped back into his chair Barbara asked “So how are you going to get this information out there?” 

Edward didn’t know the answer to that question. They hadn’t had a chance to really talk about it too much and hash out the details.

“We are going to drop enough hints about it at an event. By the time we leave Gotham’s rich gossip mill will do the rest.” Bruce said.

 _‘We?’_ Edward mouthed out upon hearing that. 

Edward hated going to events that the rich and famous of Gotham participated in. Some events were alright such as plays or operas were fine since he didn’t have to interact with people too much. Charity balls, parties for holidays or birthdays, or any other event where people mingled were a whole different story. He hated hearing people say horrible things about him when they thought he couldn’t hear them. 

However, he preferred that over the people who threw politeness and being subtle right out the window and told Edward right to his face that he didn’t deserve to be there and that an insane man like him shouldn’t even be out in public much less at party. It was due to those sorts of things that Edward had grown to hate parties. Luckily, Bruce didn’t care much for them either and the only reason he went to as many as he did was because he was keeping the laid back party boy charade going, and most of the events he went to were charity events being held by trustworthy charities or they were events that Bruce had set up himself.

The idea of going to an event filled Edward with more dread then having to be in the same room as Barbara, Dick, and Jason. Jason could be pretty harsh with most people so him being snippy with Edward was nothing new and Edward wasn’t the only one getting the attitude. Dick and Barbara didn’t like Edward much but at least they were somewhat subtle with it. They usually gave him a chilly reception that could make Antarctica seem warm in comparison, but at least they tried to be polite. Bruce saw Edward’s unhappiness at the idea of attending the event and Bruce gave him a slightly sympathetic look.

“What event are you guys going to go?” Barbara asked. 

“We have not talked about it yet, but I have one in mind that I think might work.”

“What event?” Edward asked before he could stop himself. 

Bruce had not said anything about any events. There were probably plenty happening this month. If there was one thing that the rich and famous people in Gotham liked to do it was have parties. However, while there were plenty of events going on Edward didn't keep track of that stuff nor did he care to. 

“You remember Horace Riley and his wife?” Bruce asked.

Edward knew him. He was friends with Bruce. Edward had only met him a handful of times, but he always seemed to be a friendly man who while aware of Edward's history didn't seem to care to much about it.

“He’s the CEO of the mining company, right?” Jason asked.

Everyone looked over at Jason only to see that he had his arms crossed and he was staring right back at them. 

Bruce nodded before he said "He is. You and Dick have met him a few times at the few events that I have dragged you both to."

Dick tilted his head slightly to the side as he said "I remember him. His wife is an activist isn't she?" 

“His wife Clarissa is a pretty big activist for a lot of things, and she helps run a few charities. She mostly deals with charities that help fund women shelters, group homes, and programs to help at-risk kids.” Jason said. 

Bruce didn’t seem too surprised that Jason seemed to know all of this, but Dick and Barbara did seem surprised to hear Jason rattle this information out with ease. Jason noticed the looks rather quickly, and he grew pretty angry. 

Jason just glared at them as he yelled out “Don’t stare at me like that! I pay some attention to what Bruce’s rich friends do and to what charities the Martha Wayne Foundation works with!” 

The yelling was loud enough to snap Damian out of his sleep. The baby let his displeasure be known by loudly walling. Dick and Barbara averted their gaze away from Jason while Jason cursed under his breath. Bruce took Damian out of his carrier and gently hushed the child as he tried rocking him.

“Sorry….” Jason muttered, and while his tone was a bit rough Jason did look sorry. 

“It’s fine Jason.” Bruce was able to say over the loud crying. 

Damian wasn’t falling asleep, and the more he yelled the more Bruce looked like he wasn’t sure what he should do.

“Do you want me to try?” Edward asked. 

Bruce held the baby out toward him the second he heard Edward’s offer. Edward took the baby from Bruce while Bruce gave him a thankful look for taking over. Edward stood up and walked around the couch so that he would have plenty of room to pace back and forth. He rocked the baby gently in his arms as he walked back and forth.

“It’s alright Damian. The yelling is over.” Edward said gently. 

The baby’s wails softened a tad, but the cries didn’t stop. He could see the Bat kids staring at him. All three of them were giving him the harsh stares that they had perfected through their years as vigilantes, and the looks told him that they were watching him closely and just waiting for him to screw up somehow. It was a little chilling to have those looks trained onto him, but Edward did his best to ignore it as he continued to gently reassure the baby that everything was alright. 

It took about five or four minutes, but Damian did finally start to calm down. Edward didn’t know if it was due to the rocking and moving, the gentle talking, or a combination of things. All he knew was that whatever he was doing was working so he wasn’t going to stop doing what he was doing. At any rate Damian was quite now, and while he wasn’t asleep he seemed content enough.

“You can keep talking now.” Edward says as he continues to slowly pace back and forth. 

Bruce nodded before he returned his gaze back to everyone else in the room. Barbara and Dick reluctantly shift their attention back to Bruce, but Jason just continues to watch Edward as he paces. Alfred kept giving Jason these unreadable looks that told Edward that Alfred noticed that Jason was staring a bit too much at Edward, but for now the butler wasn’t going to voice that out loud.

“Clarissa is having a charity auction for her charity and she wanted to know if I wanted to come and possibly donate anything to the auction.” Bruce said. 

He looked over at Edward and said “She sent me a text about ten minutes before the kids arrived which is why I have not said anything about it until now.”

Well, that explained why Edward had never heard of this. 

“It’s supposed to be a dinner and auction charity event. It will give us enough time to chat with people and get the word out.” Bruce said.

“But it also means that we won’t have to interact with people too much…” Edward said slowly. 

He was starting to realize why Bruce thought this event was a good idea. While they would most likely still have to deal with the rude people they would not have to talk too much with anyone for too long due to the auction. The auction would probably be the best event that they could possibly go to.

“When is the auction?” Dick asked.

“I think it’s around seven this Saturday.” Bruce said. “I’ll have to check for the exact time.”

So it was being held on the same day that Edward was meeting with a client.

Luckily, it sounded like the charity was being held after the meeting but Edward went ahead and said “I’m meeting with a client that day. I should be meeting them at ten through so it should be fine, but could you double check the time for me so that I can make sure that it won't be a problem?”

“I’ll double check the time and let you know what it is later.” Bruce said. 

“What is your client hiring you to do?” Barbara asked. 

Edward slowly stopped walking and looked down at Damian. He was a little afraid that the baby would start crying again, but the baby was already drifting off to sleep. 

“His sister went missing.” Edward finally said. 

Barbara just examined him with a slight frown. It was as if she were waiting for more information. Not that Edward had much more information to give. Even if he did he probably wouldn’t share with her unless he really had to. Call him petty for that, but teeth clenched teamwork with Barbara would do no one any good. Besides Edward could do anything that she could do perfectly well on his own thank you very much. Barbara looked like she wanted to say something, but she decided against it. It seemed that whatever snarky comment that she had come up with to say about Edward or his job would be saved for another day.

“If you are going to that party so soon I should probably get to work on creating some records for little Damian right away. I’ll work on it as soon as I get home, and before the day is over I’ll have the basic information done and in place.” She said. 

She looked over at Alfred and asked “Alfred, would it be too much trouble to ask for a ride back home now? If I want to get most of this paper work done as soon as possible I’ll need to get started as soon as I can.”

“It’s no trouble at all.” Alfred said as he stood up. 

“I should probably get going too. I was planning on taking stock of my own equipment today and fixing a few things around the house that I have been pushing off.” Dick said as he also stood up. 

“We shall see you again in two weeks for the monthly Wayne family dinner, yes?” Alfred asked.

 _‘Oh joy the awkward family dinner is almost upon us.’_ Edward thought sarcastically as he walked over to Damian’s carrier and placed the baby inside. 

The Wayne family dinners existed so that there would be one day in the month where the kids and Bruce could meet up, exchange information, and just generally keep in touch. The family dinners were only a monthly thing, and for the most part Edward didn’t have too much of an issue with them. Jason didn’t show up for half of them, and when he did it was a gamble if he would be in a good mood or not. 

Some passive aggressive comments were exchanged between Jason and whoever he was annoyed with at the time, but that was sort of par the course. Edward had long since gotten used to it at any rate. Bat related work was usually discussed, and Edward liked adding his two cents to those conversations. The last family dinner had been a big discussion about some sort of henchmen recruitment thing that Two-Face had going on that Batman needed to shut down. 

It had been interesting to listen to that conversation, and Edward had been able to help by listing off some buildings that he knew Two-Face was fond of using as a base. Still, while family dinners could be civil and the conversations were almost always interesting the dinners always did have a touch of awkwardness to them that never seemed to go away. Maybe it only felt slightly awkward to Edward.

Edward was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Alfred ask Jason “Will we be seeing you at the family dinner?”

“I’ll be there.” Jason said as he offered the butler one of his rare smiles. 

It was a nice smile, and it made Edward think it was a bit of a shame that Jason didn’t smile more. Alfred gave the boy a kind smile of his own before he walked over to Barbara and grabbed the handles of her wheelchair. He pushed her out of the room while Dick followed close behind. As they walked down the hall Edward heard Dick say something, but he couldn’t make out what since they had walked far enough away that their voices were becoming nothing more than faint echoes down the hall. Whatever it was that he said it must have been funny because he did hear Barbara’s cheerful laugh. Jason’s smile had already faded by then so that it was nothing more but a memory now. Once Dick, Alfred, and Barbara were gone Jason stood up. 

He gave Edward a harsh glare as he said “You better take real good care of Damian or else…”

“I can assure you Jason that I will take good care of my child.” Edward said as he gave Jason a steady look.

Jason may have had a glare that could give anyone the chills, but Edward refused to let the kid get to him in any way.

“You better…” Jason finally said after glaring at Edward for a good three minutes before he turned and walked out of the room. 

Edward watched him go, and the second Jason was out of sight and earshot Edward let out a loud sigh. Edward pretty much tossed himself down on the couch next to Bruce and curled up against his lover’s side. Bruce wrapped his arm around Edward and gave him a slight smile. 

“So I only got one threat from Jason. I think we can say that this meeting was a roaring success.” Edward said with only a bit of sarcasm.

“It did end up going better than I thought it would. Although, I imagine that Dick and Barbara will have a few choice words about this once they get to talk without having any of us around to hear the conversation.” Bruce said.

“I’m totally fine with not having to hear their actual thoughts on all of this to be honest.” Edward said. 

Bruce just hummed out his agreement with that thought.

“Well, maybe this meeting going well is a good sign. Maybe this means that the auction will go really well, and that we won't have to deal with any narrow minded simpletons raining on our parade.” Edward said hopefully. 

Bruce just gave Edward a look that seemed to say _‘Do you really believe that?’_

Edward’s smile fell slightly as he said “It’s not going to go well is it?”

“Probably not.” Bruce said as he ran his hand down Edward’s back in a comforting manor. 

Edward sighed as he placed his head down on Bruce’s chest. It’s official. This coming weekend was going to suck Edward could already tell…


	4. Tonight could have gone better

“What can you tell me about your sister Mister Jones?”

Those are the first words that come out of Edward’s mouth as his newest client slowly sinks down into the chair that is across from Edward’s desk. The man is rather young looking. He was probably somewhere in his early twenties if Edward had to guess. He looks around the office with a sort of timid curiosity, but his gaze quickly snaps over to Edward when he hears Edward say his name. 

“Hang on I brought a picture of her with me.” The man said as he pulled his billfold out and starts looking through it. 

As he searches Edward glances over at his computer clock.

**4:40 P.M.**

This meeting shouldn’t run long, but Edward still feels a little on edge by the fact that depending on how long this goes Ed could be cutting things rather close. The charity event was being held at six on the dot, and Edward wants to have plenty of time to get ready. His gaze shifts back over to Jones when the man holds a picture out toward Edward. Edward takes the picture and looks down at it. 

The picture is of a man and a woman. The woman is lovely looking. Her long shimmering black hair is pinned back into a pony tail. Her chocolate brown eyes have a certain warmth to them that gives Edward the impression that she is an approachable woman. Her white dress complements her sun-kissed skin perfectly, and her bright smile could put most super models grins to shame. The man in the picture isn’t Jones. This man has brown hair that is much different from Jones’ midnight black hair, and his green eyes are a different shade from Jones’ jade green eyes. The man has a cheery smile to match the woman’s smile, and even through the picture Edward gets a feeling of joy coming from the both of them.

“My sister’s name is Maria Alavi. That’s her husband David Alavi.” Jones says.

“Where is her husband?” Edward asked. If she had been missing for a full week Edward would think he would be rather concerned about his wife’s well fair.

“He’s dead.” Jones says softly.

“Oh.” Is all that Edward is capable of saying.

Well, if he was dead then that knocked any ideas that her husband had anything to do with his wife’s disappearance.

“How did he die?” Edward asked.

“He died four weeks ago. He got hit by a drunk driver.” Jones answered. 

Not the worst way to go out in Gotham sad as it was to say. 

“What happened in the drunk driver?” Edward asked. 

“He died on impact. Is this important somehow?” Jones asked in slight confusion.

“It can be, but for now I’ll say it probably doesn’t have anything to do with this.” Edward said. 

If the driver was dead then it’s not like the guy could get revenge on the wife to get some misplaced revenge for getting in trouble for killing a guy while driving around drunk. Edward wished he could say that something like that had never happened before, but it had. It happened in his second case in fact.

“What is your sister like? Are you close?” Edward asked.

“My sister is a really cheerful person. She’s really bubbly and likes to joke around.” Jones said with a faint smile. “We would meet up every Saturday for dinner to just chat and catch up, and we would call each other rather often.”

His faint smile finally faded away as he said “My sister was supposed to call me last Monday. She never did. I didn’t think too much about it, but when I tried to call her the next day she didn’t pick up.”

The man taps his fingers down against his knees as he said “My sister is pretty good about answering her phone, but since her husband died she has not been as good about answering her phone.”

The man shrugged before he said “I didn’t think too much about it. Ever since her husband died my sister has been kind of shutting herself away from everyone.”

The man looked up at Edward and said “However, I got worried when I got a call from her friend at work. My sister works at a small art gallery and according to her friend she hadn’t shown up for work for that whole week.”

“Did you check her house?” Edward asked. 

The man nodded before he said “I have a key to her house so I was able to let myself in. It looked fine from what I could tell. The door had been locked, the windows were shut and locked, and nothing looked like it was out of place. I called the police and filed a report, but this is Gotham so they have a lot on their plate.”

“Enough that you’re worried that if you just wait on them you will never find out what happened to your sister?” Edward asked.

He asked it like a question, but it was truly meant as a statement. Most people who came to Edward to ask him to find someone did so because they didn’t think the police would find them in time or ever.

“What was your sister’s daily schedule?” Edward asked. 

“She goes to work, and once that is done she comes home. That’s been her regular schedule as of late. She visits David’s grave every Sunday, but that’s the only place that I know that she visits regularly.” 

Edward nods before he pulls his desk drawer out and pulls a notebook out before he places it down on the desk in front of the man.

“Has your sister ever said anything about thinking of leaving the city?” Edward asks.

“No, she hasn’t said anything. She has never mentioned any wish of leaving Gotham.” He said. 

Edward grabbed a pen from off of his desk and held it out toward the man.

“Can you write down the name and address of the place that she works at? The name of her friend that told you about her missing would be great too.” 

The man nodded as he took the pen from Edward. 

“Write down the names of any place that she goes to often. Favorite shops, restaurants, or whatever other place you can think of that she went to. The name of the graveyard would be appreciated as well. While you’re at it write your number down too so that I can ask you any questions if I have any.” Edward told him. 

The man nodded as he started writing. Edward leaned back in his seat and took another quick glance at his computer clock.

 **5:20 P.M.**

_‘Yeah, I’m going to be cutting it close.’_ Edward thought. 

He wanted to sort of rush the guy, but at the same time he didn’t want to rush him. If he rushed him the man might forget to write down something that could be important. That and trying to rush him would make it seem like Edward really didn’t care about him or his situation with his sister. Still, the temptation to rush him was definitely there. The loud sound of his phone buzzing against the wooden table filled the room and caused the man to jump a little. Edward picked the phone up only to see that he had received a text from Bruce. 

_Is your meeting with your client done yet?_

“Do you mind if I answer this?” Edward asked Jones. 

“I don’t mind.” The man said as he returned to writing down as much information as he could. 

Edward immediately wrote up a quick text and sent it to Bruce.

_It’s not over yet, but I’m almost done._

Edward looked up from his phone when he heard the man say “OK, I wrote everything that I can think of down.” Edward nodded as he grabbed the notebook and quickly stuffed it into his bag.

“Thank you very much Mister Jones. I think we are done here for now. If you figure out anything that you think might be important make sure to call me.” 

The man nodded as he stood up and said “And you’ll call me if you get any big leads on my sister?”

“Of course I will.” Edward said with a slight smile. 

The man gave him a week smile back before he walked out of the room. The second he was out the door Edward closed the door and locked it before scrambling over to his bag. He had brought the clothing that he would wear to the party with him in case the meeting ran rather late in hopes that maybe being able to get dressed the second the meeting was done would help him save some time. 

The blinds were closed so no one would see him changing. He pulled his clothing out of the bad and stopped to examine it for a second. The outfit consisted of a green suit, white button up shirt, purple tie with a black question mark on it, and some black dress shoes. It was a pretty typical outfit for him. His green bowler hat was even in there, but he still didn’t know if he was going to bother wearing that or not. As he quickly changed he quietly thought about how he tried to go to these parties dressed in what would be considered a regular tux. Doing so never stopped the rude whispers that he would hear.

Heck, he even had one guy tell him that he shouldn’t bother wearing a regular tux. So Edward just went back to wearing green ones. He honestly preferred it, and any attempts to stick out less never worked so why bother? Edward shook these thoughts away as he finished buttoning up his suit jacket. His tie was a little crooked, but for the most part he looked fine. He took one more glance at his bowler hat before he shrugged and placed it on his head.

 _‘Screw it why not?’_ Edward thought as he slipped the hat into place. 

He grabs his bag and rushes out the door only stopping for a brief second to lock his office up. Once that is done he runs out to his car and flings his bag into the back seat before he slides into the driver’s seat and drives up. He didn’t speed, but Edward was cutting it dangerously close. Upon getting to the manor Edward raced out of his car and started to make his way up to the front door. As he speed walks he pulls his phone out and sends a quick text to Bruce. 

_I’m here. Are you ready to go?_

Edward’s head snaps up from his phone when he hears the front door open. Standing there right in front of him is Bruce. Bruce is more than ready to go. His hair is neatly combed, and his suit looks perfect. Edward can’t help but stop and stare for a few minutes. Bruce looked incredible in a real suit that wasn’t a Bat suit. Not that Batman looked bad in the Bat suit. Bruce looked pretty great in everything really. 

_‘OK, I’m getting lost in thought again.’_ Edward thinks with a slight shake of his head. 

Bruce just raises a single eyebrow in interest upon spotting Edward and asks “Did you get dressed in your office?” 

“I thought it would save us time.” Edward said with a slight frown. 

Bruce just smiles slightly as he reached out and straightened Edward’s tie and said “You could have rescheduled the meeting you know.”

“I didn’t think the meeting would run too long.” Edward said with just a hint of a whine in his voice. 

Bruce just chuckled softly and that caused Edward to smile slightly. That chuckle would probably be the only real laugh that Edward would hear from Bruce tonight.

“Well, if we don’t leave now we will be late to the party from hell.” Bruce said as he pressed a quick kiss to Edward’s head before he grabbed the man’s hand and started to lead Edward to his’s car. 

Edward says nothing about the party from hell bit. He knows that the party won’t go along swimmingly. However, he still hopes that it will. Why he has any hope of this going very well Edward will never know, but as he climbed into Bruce’s car he supposed that maybe that was just proof that hope springs eternal….. 

\---------------------------------------

Upon setting foot into the building where the charity event was taking place Edward could already feel everyone staring at him. The feeling of being watched so intently made his skin crawl a bit. Edward liked attention and being recognized, but he didn’t like it when they were judgmental stares filled with fear and disdain. Still, Edward didn’t let it bother him. 

He held his head up high as he walked arm and arm with Bruce. Bruce already had a charming smile on his face that could make most people week in the knees. While some of the playboy personality was just a charade that Bruce put on for everyone he could at least act somewhat like his normal self in front of his friends and at charity events. However, this tonight his smile seemed slightly forced. 

Only Edward noticed that Bruce’s smile was not truly genuine, but that was mostly because he knew why Bruce wasn’t smiling a genuine smile was due to the fact that Bruce knew that some people in the building would have a fit when they hear that Bruce and Edward would be having a child together. A few of the people in this building were ticking time bombs, and neither Edward nor Bruce were looking forward to seeing them go off. 

Edward tried to push those thoughts away as he looked around at the people that were around him. Upon seeing two ladies that were openly staring at him Edward gave them a friendly smile. The first girl flinched upon seeing it as she back up a few steps. Watching her reaction made it almost seem like Edward was a wild animal that she was scared to go near. The other girl just gave Edward a nervous smile in return. A man who was standing near the ladies was glaring at Edward. The look the man was giving Edward said one thing and one thing only.

**You don’t belong here.**

Edward mentally sighed as he thought _‘We have only been here for five minutes and I already want to leave.’_

Edward was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a woman cheerfully call out “Bruce!”

Within a matter of seconds Edward can see Clarissa approaching them. Her ruby red lips are curled up into a large grin, and her wine red dress complements her tanned skin perfectly. Her curly brown hair that she has tied back into a ponytail bounces with every step that she takes, and her shimmering brown eyes are warm and inviting. Clarissa seems to be glowing, and if Edward wasn’t mistaken she seemed to have put on a bit of weight since the last time he saw her. 

Clarissa was usually flat as a board, but she had a noticeable bump now and that made Edward raise a brow in curiosity and interest. Her husband follows closely behind her, and he looks just as happy to see Bruce as his wife his. His bottle green eyes seem shimmer in the bright lighting of the dinner hall, and his friendly smile makes even Edward feel just a bit at ease. Clarissa opens her arms up and hugs Bruce. Bruce hugs her back without missing a beat, and Edward can see that his boyfriend’s fake smile had turned into a genuine one. 

When the two separated Clarissa said “Oh Bruce I’m so happy to see that you were able to make it to the event.”

“I wouldn’t miss one of your events for the world.” Bruce told her as he gave her a charming smile.

She nodded slightly before she turned to look at Edward. Her smile did not falter upon seeing Edward nor did that cheery light that shinned in her eyes go away. If anything her smile grew bigger.

“Edward I’m thrilled to see that you were able to come with Bruce to the auction.” She says. 

Clarissa hugs Edward before he can even say a word. Edward freezes up for a few seconds before he awkwardly hugs her back. Edward sometimes forgot that Clarissa was a hugger. She hadn’t hugged Edward the first couple of times she saw him, but once it became clear that Edward was a permanent part of Bruce’s life Edward ended up getting added to the list of people that Clarissa had no problems with hugging. Edward would probably never get used to it, and every time she did he would tense up a little. When she finally let’s go Edward relaxes a little.

“We really wanted to thank you for donating those Gloria Parson paintings. So few of her paintings have survived to this day and age and her paintings always sell well. The two paintings that you donated are sure to bring in much needed money for the Rodriguez Foundation.” Horace said. 

It’s about at that point that Edward starts tuning the conversation out a bit. Bruce just goes on to say that the paintings were just gathering dust anyway and that they deserved a good home. It was true that they were just gathering dust. 

When it came to choosing things to donate to the charity Bruce just looked at Edward and said “Pick whatever you want from the attic and we will donate that.” 

Edward had grabbed the paintings because they were closest to the door. Edward knew little about the artist and he cared little for her paintings. The only thing that he knew about Gloria was that she was a long dead local artist who created most of her paintings during the Great Depression. He also knew that most of her paintings were lost to time, and the few that were left were expensive. The fact that Bruce literally had a few laying around in the attic amused Edward in a strange sort of way. Most people had photo albums, yearbooks, and old ratty furniture in their attic. Bruce had paintings that coasted a fortune in his.

 _‘I should really go through the attic one of these days and see just how many priceless items that Bruce has squirreled away up there.’_ Edward thought.

He let that thought drift away as he went back to examining Clarissa. She had definitely put on some weight since he last saw her. It wasn’t by much, but it was noticeable. Edward could also see that Clarissa had a hand over her stomach in a sort of protective way. Maybe he was wrong to think this, but Edward was pretty sure that she was pregnant. 

_‘Last time I saw Clarissa and her husband they said they were trying to have kids didn’t they?’_ Edward thought. 

Now that he was thinking of it he did remember hearing them talk a little about it. It was a pretty quick conversation that they had with Bruce and Edward when they happened to bump into the couple at a restaurant. Edward really wanted to ask about it now. However, Edward didn’t think just causally blurting out ‘so you are pregnant, right?’ was a good idea. Edward was about ninety-five percent sure that she was indeed pregnant, but if he was wrong and Clarissa had just gained a bit of weight then Edward will have just stuck his foot in his mouth and Edward really wanted to avoid that if at all possible. 

Luckily his chance to ask came when he heard Bruce ask “So how are you two? It’s been awhile since we have been able to talk.”

“Yes, have you had any luck getting pregnant?” Edward asked quickly.

“Is it that obvious?” The woman asked as she motioned toward her stomach. 

“Not at all. I just noticed how your hand never left your stomach and I remembered that you were trying to have a baby so I figured I should ask.” Edward said. 

The woman laughed a little before she said “That’s a nice way to avoid saying that I look pregnant.” 

Edward just smiled slightly as he said “My dear I like to think I have a way with words, and I like to use that way to avoid getting smacked if at all possible.” 

Clarissa just chuckled before she looked over at Bruce and said “You have quite the smooth talker on your hands Bruce.”

“He also has a way with riddles if that’s your thing.” Bruce joked.

Edward lightly smacked Bruce in the arm before he said “I’m hoping that by now you would have an appreciation for riddles.” 

Bruce smiled slightly as he said “I can’t say I liked riddles much at first, but I grew to love them. It helps that the man that asks them is rather cute.” 

Edward rolled his eyes upon hearing that, but he couldn’t help but smile as he said “You are a cheesy idiot.”

“Correction. I am your cheesy idiot.” Bruce said without missing a beat. 

“Personally, I think you are both dorks in love.” Clarissa said with an amused smile on her face. 

Edward appeared thoughtful upon hearing that, but after a few seconds had passed he shrugged and said “I’m OK with that. It’s not the worst thing that I have been called.” 

“Same here. I have been called worse things.” Bruce said with a grin. 

Clarissa chuckled a little before she said “Anyway, to answer your question I am pregnant. I’m three months along now.”

“Congratulations to the both of you. I know you have been having a child for a while now.” Bruce said.

Clarissa’s husband was practically beaming as he said “Thank you. You can’t imagine how happy Clarissa and I were when we heard the news.”

“Oh, I think Eddie and I can imagine it rather well Horace.” Bruce said with a sly little smile on his face.

 _‘Here we go.’_ Edward thought.

Clarissa and her husband looked confused at first, but after a few seconds had passed they figured it out.

“You two are having a baby?” Clarissa seemed to gasp out. 

Edward could have sworn you heard someone let out a gasp of shock upon hearing that. 

“Yes, we are. A surrogate mother is having the baby for us.” Bruce said. 

“Bruce why haven’t you said anything about this until now?” Clarissa asked.

Bruce’s smile fell and a serious slightly grim look crossed his face as he said “Our first attempt at getting a child didn’t end well. The baby didn’t make it.”

Well, that wasn’t exactly a lie. There had been quite a few attempts in creating a child in the lab that Damian came from, and only Damian had been lucky enough to survive. 

Clarissa and her husband grew rather solemn upon hearing that, and Clarissa’s husband said “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“It’s alright Horace.” Bruce said with a kind smile. 

Edward quickly cut into the conversation by saying “We didn’t want to say anything in case this pregnancy didn’t go well either, but luckily everything has gone fine and the baby should be here any day now.”

Horace nodded before he said “Well, I’m happy to hear that it’s going well this time. Congratulations on your new baby.”

“Yes, congratulations on your new bundle of joy. Do you know what gender your baby is going to be, or did you guys want it to be a surprise?” Clarissa asked. 

Edward opened his mouth to reply only to snap it closed when he heard a man yell out behind them “Don’t congratulate them! That insane wacko shouldn’t even have kids!”

 _‘I recognize that voice.’_ Edward thought with some annoyance.

That voice belonged to Lloyd Webster. From what Edward remembered his family was an old money family that owned a few pharmaceutical companies. The man was always very vocal about his dislike about Edward which was the reason why Edward recognized his voice so easily. When Edward turned around Lloyd was standing right there and he looked positively steamed. A few people were gathered around him, and if their heavy glares that they were giving Edward and Bruce were anything to go by it was obvious that they were not happy either.

People had already noticed the outburst and like vultures who had just found a free meal waiting out in the open for them they slowly started to gather around. A few people looked concerned like they wanted to stop the argument before it blew up into a fist fight while others just looked curious and where obviously hoping for an interesting show. Edward didn’t know which was worse. The people glaring at him or the people who were sipping champagne and hoping to see Edward duke it out with a rich jerk who needed to get knocked off his block. 

“Lloyd…” Horace said with a hint of warning in his voice.

“Don’t Lloyd me, Horace.” The man snapped before he quickly turned his gaze over to Bruce. 

Bruce just stared at the man with an emotionless expression on his face as Lloyd as “Bruce I thought you had lost it when you decided to date a mental patient, but this? You are having a child with him of all people?”

“You two aren’t even married!” A woman that was standing behind Lloyd shouted out. 

She looked like she was scandalized by the very idea of it. She was a very pretty red haired woman, but the look of disgust that was on her face diminished her beauty a little. 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Another woman shouted out. 

A beautiful blond haired woman stomped up toward them from out of the crowd while a rather worried man followed quickly behind her. The woman was holding onto her glass of wine so tightly that Edward was surprised that the glass wasn’t shattering in her grip. 

“John and I were not married yet when we had our first child. Are you saying we shouldn’t have had our son?” She asked. 

“That’s not what I’m saying at all! You are twisting my words!” The lady with red hair shouted.

“Twisting your words? Well, I don’t see how else I could interrupt what you said.” The blond haired woman said. 

The red haired lady seemed to be growing frustrated as she yelled out “Whatever! He’s a crazed super villain who shouldn’t even have kids!”

“What sense does that make?” Another person called out. 

A quick glance over to who yelled that out reveled that an elderly woman had shouted that. She was leaning up against the wall with a glass of red wine in hand and an unimpressed look on her face. Edward recognized her as being a CEO of a chain of popular cosmetics. He was pretty sure her name was Angela.

The woman took a quick sip of wine before she said “Nigma has not committed crimes for how many years now? One? One and a half?”

“He’s been good for two years, and it will be three years in a couple of weeks.” Bruce said with a slight smile.

Angela just nodded upon hearing that and moved her gaze off of Bruce and back onto Lloyd.

“OK, he’s been clean for about three years now. Three years is a pretty long time. If he's made it this long then I don’t think he will relapse so it’s not like we have to worry about him snapping and going on a killing spree. If they both think that they are both ready for the commitment of having a kid then good for them. Bruce has had kids before they turned out fine, and I think this kid will turn out fine too.” Angela said with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

“Fine like Bruce’s son Jason? He’s the rudest child I have ever seen, but I shouldn’t be surprised. Bruce has a bad habit of picking up hopeless strays that he found in some back alleyway.” Lloyd said with a scowl. 

“I suggest you watch your tone Lloyd, and I also suggest that you never talk about my son like that again. Jason is not a stray he is my child.” Bruce said.

It wasn’t quite the Batman voice, but it still had a pretty dangerous undertone to it. What Bruce said wasn’t even directed toward Edward and it still sent a chill down his spine. It seemed to have affected the other people in the area too because the people who had been standing close to Bruce took a few steps back. It was almost like they were expecting Bruce to launch himself at Lloyd and start tearing him apart.

“Only reason why Jason is rude to you is because you started it by being rude to him.” Angela said with a slight smirk. “Personally I like the kid. Sure, he’s a bit of a hothead, but he’s honest and he doesn’t do any of that fake politeness nonsense. He reminds me of me when I was younger.” 

Lloyd seemed to be at a loss as to what to say to that, and Edward decided to jump into the conversation.

“Riddle me this Lloyd. What is so fragile that when you say its name, you break it?” Edward asked.

Lloyd seemed to think for a moment before he said “Silence?” 

“Amazing, you do have a brain after all.” Edward said as he smirked. 

Lloyd glared at Edward and opened his mouth to respond, but Edward cut him off by saying “So Lloyd why don’t you just keep your opinions to yourself and keep silent. Bruce and I never asked for your thoughts, and if we ever actually start caring about what you think we will let you know.”

“Don’t you talk to me like that you crazy street rat.” Lloyd hissed.

Edward glared at him and took a single step toward the man. The man flinched a little revealing that he was more scared of Edward then he let on, but the man didn’t dare step away. 

“Bruce hold me back before I punch the ignorant neanderthal in the face.” Edward was able to hiss out. 

Edward was angry. He was very angry. He was clinching his fists together so hard that his nails were digging into his skin and starting to draw blood. Edward wasn’t much of a physical fighter, but he could take Lloyd down easily. 

Bruce placed his hand on Edward’s shoulder as he leaned forward and whispered in his ear “Edward, it’s not worth it. Punching him will get you nothing.”

“I know, but I still want to punch his lights out.” Edward was able to hiss out.

“Trust me you are not the only one.” Bruce muttered.

“You hear that he’s threatening me.” Lloyd said as he looked over at Horace as if he expected him to throw Edward out. 

Horace looked like he was just done with everything so he pretty much looked how Edward felt. Edward didn’t need a reminder of why he hated these events, but that was what he was getting. 

“Alright, that’s enough!” Horace said as he walked forward so that he was standing in between Edward and Lloyd.

“This is a charity event to raise money for good causes, and all of you are grown adults and I expect you to act like the adults and not like arguing children!” Horace snapped. 

He looked over at Lloyd and said “Lloyd this is my wife’s event and she is allowed to invite whoever she likes. You might have problems with Edward and Bruce, but we don’t have issues with them. If you don’t like them then fine not everyone like everyone, but don’t go picking fights with people when they aren’t even talking to you. Edward didn’t provoke you so leave him alone.”

Lloyd looked positively steamed upon hearing that.

“He’s a –“ Lloyd started to say only to get cut off by Lloyd.

“Save it I know what you are going to say. Yes, he’s the Riddler, but he’s not a criminal anymore and he’s not causing issues. If you insist on picking fights and causing a commotion I will have security kick you out.” Horace said.

Lloyd looked like he wanted to argue about it, but he must have decided against it because he eventually said “Fine.” 

Lloyd stomped away as the people gathered around started to disperse. The red haired woman threw Bruce and Edward one last glare before she walked away as well. The blond haired woman just shook her head and muttered things under her breath while she walked over to what seemed to be her husband. Eventually the only ones still standing there were Horace, Edward, Bruce, Clarissa, and Angela. 

“You should have let Edward punch him. I would love to see someone knock Lloyd off of his high horse.” Angela said before she took a big drink of her wine.

“Angela, please don’t start.” Horace said.

Edward relaxed a little once Lloyd as no longer near him, and upon seeing Edward relax a little Bruce asked “So can I let you go and not have to worry about you beating up Lloyd.”

Edward just nodded, and that was all Bruce needed to see to finally let go of Edward’s shoulder. Horace sighed before he ran his hand down his face.

“Well, this is turning out to be a wonderful night.” Horace’s wife said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry about that.” Edward was able to say.

To be honest he didn’t feel like he should be the one apologizing. He didn’t start the fight, but by god if it had come to it Edward would have finished it. 

Horace just sighed yet again before he said “Don’t worry about it. You didn’t start the fight so it’s not your fault. Just try to stay away from Lloyd for the rest of the night.”

“I’ll try.” Edward said. 

"That's all I can ask for." Horace said with week smile.

Clarissa gave Edward a week smile as she said “The auction will be starting in a few minutes which means the event is almost over. You won’t have to be around Lloyd for much longer.”

Edward nodded and he had to admit that hearing that had made him feel a bit better.

“Do you want to go ahead and go sit at our table?” Bruce asked.

“Please, I think I have had enough socializing for the night.” Edward said as he started to walk over to the table that had been assigned to them.

Edward probably should have said goodbye to Clarissa and Horace fist, but he was officially done for the night. He just wanted to auction to start so they could get it over with a go home. Bruce gave the couple a quick goodbye before he hurried after Edward. Once he was close enough he grabbed Edward’s hand and held it tightly on his own. He gave Edward’s hand a comforting squeeze, and that made Edward smile a little. If nothing else Edward could take comfort in the fact that he wasn’t here alone, and that Bruce was probably just as unhappy as he was. Not that Edward wanted Bruce to be upset, but this was definitely one of those misery loves company moments. 

They sat at their table and didn’t really say anything which was fine because about two minutes later the auction started. For the most part Edward didn’t care about anything was being sold. He was just counting down the minutes until the whole thing was finally over and they could leave. However, that all changed when the betting for a cat statue of the Egyptian goddess Bastet started. 

The statue was created by a rather popular local artist, and it was pretty enough. It was an ebony statue with a gold collar that was studded with precious stones. The whole thing was hand carved, and hand painted. However, Edward didn’t particularly care too much for the statue. The only reason he was taking special notice of it was because Lloyd was betting pretty often on it.

Bruce must have noticed too because he leaned over to Edward and whispered in his ear “So do you want to be petty?”

Edward smirked a little before he asked “That depends. What do you have in mind?”

“If you give me an excuse to buy the cat statue I’ll outbid Lloyd and bring it home.” Bruce answered.

“You know that anyone who wins that thing will just be getting themselves a visit from Catwoman.” Edward said.

“I’m OK with tossing money down the drain if it annoys Lloyd. Besides either way the money will go to a good cause.” Bruce said with a slight smile.

Edward was quiet for a moment before he said “It would look nice in your office.”

“That’s a good enough excuse for me.” Bruce said as he lifted his betting card up so that the auctioneer could see it. 

The betting for the statue took a good ten minutes, and most of that time was spent just watching Lloyd and Bruce play betting Ping-Pong with each other. However, Bruce ended up winning the statue in the end. Lloyd was positively livid at this, and he didn’t get much better when he looked over at Bruce and Edward only to have the two happily wave at him like there wasn’t any problem. Tonight may have sucked, but getting to annoy Lloyd like that made things just a little better….

\---------------------------------------------

“Welcome back. How was the auction?”

That was the first thing Edward heard when he walked into the manor. Alfred was standing at the bottom of the steps, and he was giving them a kind friendly smile. After the night that Edward had the smile was nice, but Edward was in no mood to really appreciate the warm welcome. 

“Well, we brought a cat statue and which means we should probably expect a visit from Selina soon.” Bruce said as he held up the statue for Alfred to see. 

Alfred just looked at the statue for a few seconds before he looked over at Edward and gave him a look that seemed to say _‘Why in the hell did you buy that?’_

“We brought it to tick off a guy who pretty much told us that I was an evil crackpot who shouldn’t have kids, and to top it off he insulted Jason too.” Edward deadpanned.

Alfred’s smile fell away upon hearing that as Edward pretty much stomped down the hall and into the living room. Upon reaching the living room and he practically tossed himself down on the couch. Bruce walked in a few seconds later and sat down next to Edward. He didn’t have the statue with him which probably meant that he handed it over to Alfred to put in his office.

“Want to bet that tonight’s events are already on the local gossip shows?” Bruce asked as he grabbed the changer. 

“No deal. You and I both know that every gossip web sight and celebrity gossip show started talking about the baby news before we even left the charity event. It’s part of the reason why we went to the charity event anyway since having it talked about on the gossip channels and sights is one of the best ways to get the news that we are having a baby out there for the world to hear.” Edward said.

Bruce said nothing to this he just turned the TV on and brought up the channel that the gossip shows where on. The second Bruce reached the channel the room was immediately filled with the sound of the overly enthusiastic host blubbering about what happened at the charity event.

“Sources say that there was drama at the charity auction being held Rodriguez Foundation tonight. Lloyd Webster, the well-known hair to the Webster fortune and CEO of Webster Pharmaceutical, caused a commotion at the event by picking a fight with Bruce Wayne and his lover Edward Nigma, aka the Riddler. According to eyewitness at the scene the fight was over a surprising bit of news. It seems that Bruce and Edward are having a baby with the help of a surrogate mother. While some are disappointed at the news that the once number one bachelor of Gotham seems to be permanently spoken for others are concerned over the news of a former super villain rais-”

Edward didn’t get hear the rest of what the show host had to say because Bruce turned the TV off before he dropped the remote down on the coffee table.

“I don’t think we need to hear the rest of that.” Bruce said. 

Edward just nodded as he closed his eyes and let himself just rest for a moment. He was exhausted, and he was more than ready to go to bed. However, before he could suggest to Bruce that they go to bed he felt his cellphone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled the phone out of his pocket only to see that he got a text from Diedre and Nina.

“Oh hell….” Edward muttered once he saw the names of his two friends.

“What?” Bruce asked in confusion. 

“I forgot to tell Diedre and Nina about Damian.” Edward muttered.

“How did you forget to tell them?” Bruce asked. 

“I don’t know. I got busy and it just slipped my mind.” Edward snapped. 

He really wasn’t in the mood to be dealing with all of this right now. He brought his texts messages up and quickly read the message that the girls had sent him.

_When where you going to tell us that you were having a baby?!_

The second he finished reading that message another message from the girls popped up.

_Edward, call us. Preferably now._

Of course right after he read that he got another text only this time the text was from Oswald. Edward was instantly reminded of the fact that he also forgot to tell Oswald about the baby as well. Edward could already feel a headache rolling in. Edward pulled up Oswald’s text and read it.

_So where you planning on telling me about the fact that you are having a kid with Gotham’s number one playboy, or where you just going to show up on my doorstep one day with the kid in your arms?_

It’s a little hard to portray tone or emotion in texts, but Edward just knew that Oswald was probably more amused then upset. 

Edward wasn’t surprised at all when he got another text from Oswald that simply said _‘Please call me preferably before the kid is born.’_

Edward stared at the message for a moment and tried not to sigh when the girls sent him yet another text demanding that Edward call them. Edward already knew that the conversations with the girls would take forever, and he really wasn’t looking forward to hearing Oswald laugh over the fact that he totally forgot to tell any of them about his kid.

“It’s official tonight is one of the worst nights of my life.” Edward muttered. 

“And it’s not even nine P.M. yet.” Bruce joked. 

Edward just glared at his boyfriend and decided right then and there that Bruce was not helping…..


	5. Phone calls and late night plans

“You are having a baby and you didn’t think to tell us?!”

That’s the very first thing that Edward hears from his old friends the second they pick their phone up. Their yelling really isn’t helping Edward’s migraine, and hearing their yells just makes Edward want to put his head down on the table and start screaming in headache induced frustration. He was already feeling pretty miserable from the charity event so his friends giving him a hard time on the same night really wasn’t helping. Alfred gives Edward a sympathetic look as he walks past him and into the kitchen.

“Yell that a little louder why don’t you? I don’t think everyone in Gotham was able to hear you.” Edward grumbles out as he runs his hand down his face. 

He had his phone on speaker just because it would make it easier to talk to both girls at once. Edward was kind of regretting that decision. The girls could be pretty loud all on their own, but when they were on speaker phone they were so loud one would think they were yelling through a megaphone.

“Oh, don’t get all lippy with us mister. You are the one who conveniently forgot to tell us about the fact that you are going to have a bundle of crying joy with one of Gotham’s richest men.” Diedre said. 

“Yeah, learning about the baby through that trashy gossip show Red Carpet Buzz is not how we wanted to learn that our old dear friend is having a kid.” Nina added.

“If the show is so trashy why do you watch it?” Edward can’t help but ask.

“It’s a guilty pleasure.” Nina said without a hint of embarrassment in her voice. 

Edward sighed before he said “Listen, I apologize for not telling you all about the baby myself. It wasn’t right and the way that you found out about the baby was not great, but it honestly didn’t cross my mind. Things have been a little chaotic here. It’s amazing that we even have the kid.”

“Why? Did you have any problems getting a surrogate mother?” Diedre asked. 

“There were other babies who didn’t make it.” Edward answered. 

That seemed to cause them to quickly sober up.

“Oh Ed….” He heard Diedre say sadly.

“We are so sorry.” Nina murmured. 

The apology made him feel uncomfortable. He didn’t need the apology. He didn’t deserve the apology. He and Bruce hadn’t spent months waiting for their kid to be born. They didn’t have to through the emotional turmoil of losing a baby. One day they didn’t have a kid and the next day the kid was there and in their arms. The only problems that they had so far was just trying to figure out how to explain the sudden kid being with them. However, it’s not like he could exactly tell them that. He couldn’t exactly tell them much of anything about how Damian came to be. He didn’t like that, but it is how it is.

“So everything is OK this time around?” Diedre asks gently and with a bit of hesitation. 

It was like she was trying to avoid bringing up any bad memories. At any other instance Edward could have appreciated the gesture, but right now it just made him feel uncomfortable. 

“Everything is fine. The baby will be out in the world any day now.” Edward assured her.

“So do you know the gender?” Nina asked.

“It’s a boy. We will name him Damian Thomas Nigma-Wayne.” Edward answered.

“He’s going to have your last name?” Both of the girls asked in surprise.

Edward smiled a bit as he said “Yeah, Bruce insisted on it. He said that since we are raising the baby together he should have my last name too.”

“That’s good. The baby is your kid too so it should reflect that.” Diedre said.

Edward could just see her standing there with her arms crossed as she said that as if daring anyone to say she was wrong for saying that.

“Anyway, you better text us or at least call us the second after the kid is born to make up for not telling us about him sooner.” Nina said. 

“I will don’t worry.” Edward assured her. 

“Hey, we haven’t asked yet but did you forget to tell Penguin too?” Diedre asked.

“I did, and I promised to call him after I was done talking to you two.” Edward answered. 

Edward could hear Nina start laughing over the phone while Diedre said “Well, at least you talked to us about the baby first.”

Diedre sounded very amused by the whole situation which would have annoyed Edward, but right now he was just glad that they were not angry and taking turns chewing him out.

“Alright, I’m going to have to hang up on you guys so that I can call Oswald.” Edward said. 

“Alright, but make sure to text us or call us when the kid is born.” Nina said once she finally got over her laughing fit.

“Send us a picture of the kid too once you can!” Diedre quickly added.

“And he want to come down and visit once the little bundle of joy is here!” Nina added just as quickly.

Edward chuckled a little before he said “Alright, I promise to do all of that.”

“You better!” Both the girls said at the exact same time. 

Edward rolled his eyes a bit upon hearing that, and after saying goodbye to them he hung up. He took a minute or two to mentally prepare himself for his call to Oswald. Oswald probably wouldn’t give Edward too hard of a time for not saying anything, but he would probably rib him a little for not saying anything to the girls sooner. Once he was mentally ready Edward called Oswald. 

Oswald picked up after three rings and instead of saying hello he just asked “So have you called the girls and talked about the baby yet?”

Edward sighed before he said “I called them.” 

“They were upset that you waited so long to say anything weren’t they?” Oswald asked. 

He sounded rather amused when he asked that. Oswald knew that the girls had been mad that Edward hadn’t said a word about the baby, but he wanted to hear Edward confirm it.

“They were rather upset.” Edward said.

Oswald chuckled and Edward just grumbled “You are enjoying this aren’t you?”

“A little bit yeah.” Oswald confessed. “Anyway, when is your bundle of joy going to arrive into the world?” 

“Any day now.” Edward said.

“So soon? I can’t believe you have not said anything until now.” Oswald said in surprise. 

Edward was unsure of what to say to that. He was going to just tell Oswald what he told the girls, but he didn’t want to get the whole pity thing again. Getting pity from his friends for such a thing just made him feel uncomfortable. 

_‘Nothing you can do about it. You have to have some reason for saying nothing for so long, and this is the only excuse that can work.’_ A little voice in the back of his head said. 

That thought was true, but it still made Edward uncomfortable. 

However, he ignored the feeling as he said “Damian wasn’t the first attempt to get a baby.” 

Oswald was quiet for a long time upon hearing that. In fact he was quiet just long enough for Edward to start to wonder if he had accidentally pressed the hang up button. 

However, before he could move the phone away from his ear he heard Oswald ask “How many were lost?”

“Too many.” Edward answered without much thought. 

Edward had seen a few pictures of the twisted bodies of the children who never had a chance to live. They hadn’t been pretty to look at. Sometimes he wondered if any of the babies who lived for an hour or so suffered in great pain before they finally died, but it wasn’t a question he liked to dwell on often. Edward always wanted answers, but that was one of the few questions in life that he was alright with never getting an answer to.

“I’m sorry Edward.” Oswald said. 

It wasn’t as sorrowful sounding as the girls sorry had been, but it was just as sincere. 

“It will be fine.” Edward said. “I don’t like to dwell on it.”

Oswald picked up on what Edward was saying pretty quick and instead of asking anymore questions about that he instead said “So you are naming your kid Damian?” 

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that the name of the devil kid in The Omen movie?”

“Leave it to you to bring up horror movies with evil kids in it when talking about my child.” Edward said as an amused smile appeared on his face. 

“I can’t help it. The kid is going to have formal playboy Wayne and you as parents. The kid is going to grow up to be a mischief maker I can already tell.” Oswald said all while sounding just as amused as Edward was now feeling.

“Thanks for making me dread the future.” Edward joked.

“Someone has to be realistic about all of this.” Oswald joked right back. 

Edward chuckled a little before he said “Well, I need to go. I’ll make sure to call you the on the day the kid gets here.”

“You better. I’m not joking when I say I don’t want you showing up at my doorstep with a kid in your arms with no warning at all.” Oswald said. 

Edward just rolled his eyes as he said “Goodbye Oswald.”

“Also, make sure to tell the girls that the baby first. I don’t want them killing me because I learned about the baby first or saw the kid first.” 

Edward didn’t bother saying anything to that. He just hung up and placed the phone down on the table before he rested his head on the table. Edward closed his eyes and let out a small sigh. The phone call with the girls could have gone a bit better, but it could have gone a hell of a lot worse so honestly Edward was not complaining. 

“Tea Master Edward?” 

Edward opened his eyes just a crack to look at Alfred. Alfred had a slight smile on his face and a green coffee cup in hand.

“What kind of tea?” Edward asked slowly.

“It’s chai tea with whipped cream, sir. I know how much you enjoy it.” Alfred answered.

Edward immediately sat up and said “Alfred have I told you that I love you recently?”

Alfred’s smile became a rather amused one as he handed Edward the cup of tea and said “No, but it’s nice to know that I am appreciated.”

Alfred then turned and walked out of the room. Edward just took in a deep breath as he allowed himself to just relax and drink his tea. When he was halfway done with the cup Bruce walked into the room. 

Bruce slid into the seat that was across from Edward and immediately asked “So how did the calls go?”

“Better than I thought they would, but the girls did yell at me for ‘forgetting’ to mention that we were going to try having a kid.” Edward said all while adding finger quotes around the word forgetting.

A faint smile drifted onto Bruce’s face only to quickly disappear when Edward asked “They want me to call them once the baby is here which begs the question of just when are we going to announce his birth?”

Bruce said nothing as Edward continued talking.

“I mean it has to happen soon. We can pass Damian off as a newborn for only so long.” 

“I’ll take care of it.” Bruce said as he suddenly stood up. 

Bruce started to make his way out of the room, but stopped when he reached the doorway. 

He glanced over at Edward and said “I’ll get a hold of Leslie Thompkins and see if she can’t help us out. We can’t take Damian to regular hospital, but Leslie might be able to help me brainstorm ideas of where we can go to keep this birth charade going. While I’m doing that pack a bag for yourself, Damian, and me. Just pack enough to last us two or three days.” 

The man then walked out of the room, and once Bruce was gone all Edward could do was frown as he stared down at his cup of tea. He had no idea exactly what Bruce was planning, but the only vague idea that he could come up with was that Bruce was going to have Leslie help them stage the ‘birth’ of Damian. Leslie was a doctor so if anyone could help it was her. Still, while she was a doctor Edward had no clue if she actually helped deliver babies or anything like that. Edward sighed yet again as he ran his hand through his hair. Whatever Bruce was planning Edward just hoped it would happen fast so that they could get it over with…. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edward ended up getting his wish. Two days after Bruce told him to pack his bags Edward was rudely awakened at two in the morning by Bruce flicking the lights on and flinging the suitcases onto the bed next to him. 

Edward groaned as he covered his eyes to protect them from the harsh light while Bruce just said “Get dressed.”

“You had to wake me up by turning on the blasted lights?” Edward grumbled out.

“It seemed like the best way to wake you up.” Bruce said with way too much energy. 

Edward scowled as he shoved the blankets off of himself. Bruce flung a black t-shirt into Edward’s face.

“What the heck is this for?” Edward said as he pulled the shirt off of his face and glanced down at it.

“We have to be discrete here so no green suits, and no question mark anything.” Batman said as he chucked a pair of jeans at Edward.

“I can’t at least wear a green shirt?” Edward asked he slid off of the bed.

“No, you can’t.” Was Bruce’s blunt answer.

Bruce then disappeared out the door with their bags. Edward grumbled a little, but didn’t think much as he quickly got dressed and slipped his glasses on. Edward knew this night was coming so it’s not like he could complain too much. Bruce had already given him some details about the plan, and while it wasn’t a lot it was enough to give Edward a basic idea of what they were doing. 

They would go somewhere else and camp out there while Bruce made sure that Damian’s ‘arrival’ was leaked out so that a bit of the media would get a hold of the info. A couple of journalist would camp out at the front gate of the manor. They would get a glimpse of Damian and a couple of bad blurry photos, and with that Damian’s arrival would be officially public and they would no longer have to worry about keeping him secret. They would have to keep the surrogate mother story going for the rest of Damian’s life, but at least he wouldn’t be stuck in the manor for the rest of eternity.

The amount of hoops that they had to jump through to keep this whole charade going was ridicules, but if going out of their way to flesh out this surrogate mother story kept people from asking too many questions Edward couldn’t complain too much. Once he was ready he scurried out of the room and started to make his way to the front door. When he got to the lobby where the front door was he found Bruce there, but there was also someone else there as well.

Standing there in front of Bruce talking quietly with him was Leslie Thompkins. Edward was a little surprised to see her although he probably shouldn’t be. Bruce had said that he was working with her to figure the whole baby issue out. Edward had interacted with Leslie only a handful of times. The interactions were brief and usually consisted of Edward helping to drop off one of his thugs at her clinic back when he was still a super villain, or him dropping by at the clinic while working on a case.

She had been courteous to him during their brief interactions so Edward was pretty sure that he wouldn’t have to worry about getting any drama from her. As Edward approached them he could see that Leslie had Damian in her arms. She had a slight smile on her face as she looked at the baby, and her smile didn’t fade away as Edward approached them. 

“Hello Edward.” She said once Edward was standing next to her.

“Hello Ms. Thompkins.” Edward said as he offered her a small smile of his own.

“Please Edward call me Leslie.” Leslie said as she held Damian out for Edward to take. 

Damian huffed a little in his sleep, but didn’t awaken as Edward took the child into his arms. Edward smiled a bit as he looked at his child. He looked up at Leslie only to see that her smile had softened a bit as she watched Edward hold his son.

“So you are going to help us with this whole birth charade?” Edward asked. 

Leslie nodded slightly as she asked “What has Bruce told you about our plans?”

“Bits and pieces, but he hasn’t been able to tell me much what with him being busy getting things set up and me working on cases.” Edward said. “Then we have Bruce’s Bat related activities that keep Bruce busy.”

“Ah, yes I have heard of Batman taking care of a gang fight yesterday.” Leslie said.

Bruce looked slightly guilty about not keeping Edward completely in the loop, but Edward wasn’t bothered by it. Bruce had the whole Batman thing going on, and Edward was working on the missing person’s case. They were both busy it happened. It was hard to exchange information sometimes when Bruce was pulling all all-nighter as Batman while Edward was out during the day working on cases. Add on the fact that Bruce had meetings at his company to attend during the day and that they had a baby to care for and you got yourself a pretty busy and exhausted pair of people on your hands. 

Edward was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Bruce said “We can’t have Damian’s ‘birth’ here. Enough people think we have difficulties with trying to have a child that they would think we would want to be at a hospital so we can have the doctors and the equipment around in case something goes wrong.”

“We also can’t go to an actual hospital for obvious reasons.” Edward said as he motioned toward Damian with a tilt of his head.

Leslie nodded before she said “Yes, but luckily we don’t need to worry about that. While we can’t go to a hospital we can go to my clinic.”

“Your clinic?” Edward said with a slight frown. 

“Yes, my clinic actually does help out with emergency births or we help people who can’t afford to go to a regular hospital for various reasons.”

Edward could already guess what a few of those reasons where. The reasons could range from not being able to afford having a baby at a regular hospital to people who had enemies that they wanted to avoid and going to a regular hospital would not be safe for them or their baby. Leslie’s clinic was famous for treating anyone regardless of who they were, and for that reason most villains left the clinic alone. No reason to take out a clinic that was willing to treat anyone regardless of what their criminal ties were after all.

At any rate Edward didn’t comment on what Leslie said and instead listened as she said “I have delivered babies before. Heck, I helped to deliver Bruce.” 

“You did?” Edward said in surprise. 

Leslie started to grin as she said “You bet I did. Little troublemaker ended up being a rather large baby. He also had a cry so loud that I thought he would wake up half the hospital.” 

To Bruce’s credit he only looked slightly embarrassed at having Leslie cheerfully talk about his younger years.

“Anyway, Leslie is an old family friend who has been known to act as a family doctor for the Wayne family.” Bruce quickly cut in. 

“So having a trusted doctor take care of a delivery after a string of bad luck would be believable.” Edward finished for him.

Bruce nodded while Leslie added “Then there is the fact that my clinic can be discrete which would just be another reason why you would come to me.”

“Of course if someone who happened to be passing by ‘saw’ us going in and leaked it to a few media channels there’s nothing the clinic can do about it, and it wouldn’t be their fault.” Bruce said before Leslie could. 

“I get it.” Edward said. “So how are we getting there? I don’t think the limo would be very subtle.”

“I was going to drive you there.” Leslie answered.

Right after she said that the front door opened and Alfred walked in.

“The car seat is ready.” The butler said upon spotting them all standing there in the manor entrance. 

“Thank you Alfred.” Bruce said. 

He smiled a bit at them all as he asked “Shall we get going?”

Leslie and Edward silently nodded before they followed Bruce out the door. Upon reaching the car Edward got Damian strapped into his car seat.

“You want to sit in the front?” Bruce asks as he watches Edward. 

“No, I’ll sit in the back with Damian.” Edward said. 

Bruce nodded, but as Edward slipped into his seat in the back he didn’t fail to notice Bruce open up the back door and slip into the empty backseat that was on Damian’s left.

As Edward buckled himself up he gave the man a questioning look only to have Bruce smile slightly before he said “There’s room in the back for all three of us.”

Edward smiles a bit at that, but doesn’t say anything. Leslie was already in the car by the time Bruce finally got in, and the second she hears Bruce and Edward’s seat belts click into place she starts up the car and starts driving them toward their destination. The ride is a silent one. Leslie had her car radio tuned into some news channel, but most of what they were saying went through one ear and out the other. 

It was your typical Gotham news report. It would be raining for the rest of the week, Falcone’s men and Black Masks’ men were fighting rather regularly in the Bowery so citizens were ware warned to avoid certain sections of the area, and the question of if Arkham Asylum was actually effective in helping to keep Gotham safe was being discussed yet again. The answer to that question was obviously no, but for some reason some people in Gotham thought it was a question that they needed to debate over yet again. 

Bruce seemed rather disinterested in most of the news, but he did look rather serious upon hearing about the gang fighting. Edward was somewhat tempted to ask Bruce if Batman was going to go out tonight to deal with it, but he ended up staying silent. He already knew the answer to that question. Edward sighed as he laid his head against the car window and allowed his hand to rest on the back of Damian’s car seat. 

A few seconds later he felt calloused fingers wrap themselves around his hand. He glanced down at his hand to see that Bruce had wrapped his hand around Edward’s hand. Edward looked up at Bruce. Bruce was staring straight ahead looking rather serious as always, but he did he did glance over at Edward to offer him a quick smile. Edward smiled a bit upon seeing it, but said nothing. He just got comfortable and clung to Bruce’s hand just as tightly as Bruce was holding onto his hand. Edward also stayed silent when Bruce squeezed Edward’s hand a tiny bit harder when they drove past the Monarch theater.

It wasn’t something worth commenting on, and it wasn’t something that Bruce would want pointed out. Bruce only let go of Edward’s hand when Leslie parked in a nice secluded spot next to her clinic. Everyone sprang into action once the car was off. Edward gathered up Damian while Leslie sprang out of the car and raced over to the door. Bruce already had their bags in hand by the time Edward was getting out of the car with the baby. Bruce also had a black suitcase in hand as well. Edward had a few guesses as to what was in the suitcase, but decided not to comment on the suitcase at all. 

Leslie had the door open and silently gestured for the men to hurry inside. There was no one around and from where they were standing the walls of the clinic prevented anyone in the roads or streets from seeing them, but even so it was best if they didn't dawdle. They scurried inside as fast as their feet could carry them, and Leslie quickly closed the door once they were inside. The second the door clicked closed Leslie started to walk down the hall. They followed her silently, and upon reaching the desired door Leslie unlocked it and quickly ushered them inside. Upon stepping inside Edward was met with the view of what looked like a living room.

_‘This must be Leslie’s living quarters.’_ Edward thought as he stepped inside. 

He noticed a hospital bassinet that was sitting next to the couch. Leslie must have pulled it up from her own clinic. It wasn’t majestic by any means, but it would serve its job as a bed for Damian for one night. Edward could hear the sounds of Leslie locking the door and the soft thud of Damian’s diaper bag landing on the hard wood floor.

Edward gently placed Damian into the bassinet as Leslie called out “Do you want any coffee or tea?”

“I would like a cup of coffee.” Edward said as he plopped himself down onto the couch. “I’ll need it to stay awake tonight.” 

“Nothing for me. I’m going to the Bowery tonight.” Bruce said.

 _‘Big surprise.’_ Edward thought with some sarcasm. 

Edward looked over at Bruce to see that he had his briefcase in hand and that he was walking over to what appeared to be Leslie’s bathroom.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to go out tonight?” Edward asked slowly. 

“I’ll be back before daylight.” Bruce answered without a moment of hesitation. 

He stopped once he reached the door and turned to look at Edward. 

“The fights between Falcone and Black Mask’s gangs have been escalating. Their top men should be at this fight, and if I take them down now I take them out of the fight and force the gangs to have a cease fire for at least a few days.” Bruce explained. 

Edward felt a crooked smile appear on his face. Bruce didn’t have to explain why taking care of the gang now would be a good idea. If most of the gangs fighters were in jail the gangs would put their fighting on hold until they were out of jail or until they got enough replacements to continue the fight. Taking out a few high ranking members would help to destabilize the gangs for some time as well. It was all logical really, and something that Edward understood perfectly. 

That news report had gotten Bruce’s attention. Thanks to that report he had a pretty good idea on where tonight’s fights were happening, and there was no way Bruce was going to let that info got to waste. However, he knew that Bruce would have went out to take care of it regardless of if it was a big fight between major street gangs or a small skirmish between a bunch of drunk nobodies with anger issues. Just knowing that there was a huge fight going down was enough for Bruce to want to go out. He couldn’t forget about the fight even if he tried. Some innocent person could end up being in the wrong place at the wrong time and get hurt. Some innocent person could end up in the crossfire and get killed. There was no way that Bruce was going to let someone lose a loved one like he did. Not when he thought he could prevent it.

Edward couldn’t say he was happy that Bruce was going to go flying off into the night to do what a Dark Knight does, but he understood why Bruce felt like he had to go out there. Edward was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the bathroom door creek open. Bruce stepped out of the bathroom decked out in his Batman uniform. A grim frown was already on his face, and the white lenses of Batman’s mask hid Bruce’s bright cornflower blue eyes from the world. 

Edward couldn’t help but be a bit sad that his eyes were hidden away like that. Edward always did love Bruce’s eyes. Still, they were best hidden away. Keeping his eye color hidden helped to keep his identity secret, and truthfully Bruce’s sky blue eyes were not completely suited for a creature of the night the struck fear into the hearts of criminals. At any rate the Batman persona was firmly in place now, or maybe it was better to say that the Bruce mask had been removed to reveal the true person beneath it. Bruce always seemed more comfortable as Batman then he did as Bruce Wayne. Edward slid off of the couch and walked up to his lover.

“When are you going to get back?” He asked once he got close to Batman.

“I’ll try to be back by four at the latest. Hopefully I’ll be back sooner than that.” Batman answered.

“Try to avoid coming back with any injuries. The last thing we need is the paparazzi seeing you covered in bruises.” Edward said with a sigh. 

To anyone else he would have sounded annoyed, but underneath the annoyed sounding words was a simple message that Edward hoped that Batman was able to pick up. A small half smile appeared on Batman’s face as he slowly lifted his hand up and brushed it across Edward’s cheek in a loving manor.

“I’ll be careful, and I love you too.” Batman said softly enough that only Edward could hear him.

 _‘Message received.’_ Edward thought with a smile.

Reluctantly Edward stepped away from Batman, and the vigilante allowed his arm to fall back to his side. His smile faded away so that only Batman’s patented neutral face could take its place. Batman then walked past him only reaching out to tangle their fingers together for a few seconds so that he could give Edward's hand one last reassuring squeeze. Edward allowed Batman’s hand to slip from his grasp, and once Batman had officially past by him Edward silently turned around and followed the Dark Knight toward the window. 

Edward watched as Batman opened the window, and listened as the window let out a screech of resistance upon being opened. The sound of police sirens echoed in the distance as the scent of rain assaulted Edward’s senses. Batman silently pulled his hook shot out of utility built and aimed it at a nearby building. Without saying good bye Batman shot off into the city. Edward watched him go, and it didn’t take long for him to lose sight of the Bat. Batman’s dark form blinded in with the dark gloomy surroundings of the night rather well so it was pretty hard to keep track of him. Edward continued to stare out into the city for a few more seconds before he finally closed the window. Batman was gone, and now all Edward could do was sit back and wait for his return…


	6. I belive in secound chances

_Where were you, sir, on the night that Freddy died?_

_I don’t know what this is leading to, but I don’t think I like the sound of it._

Edward yawned as he tried to pay attention to the episode of Columbo. It was a great episode, but Edward had seen it before so it was hard to force himself to pay attention. He was tired, and Edward just wanted to fall asleep right then and there. Not that he could fall asleep. He felt too antsy to really get any rest. Bruce was out there fighting gang members at that very second. The fact that Bruce was fighting didn’t bother him. It was just a bunch of gang members. It’s not like he was going up against the Joker. 

Edward wasn’t worried about him getting hurt, but he was worried that Bruce wouldn’t come back by the time that he said he would. Edward was sure that Bruce would try his best to come back on time. However, if something came up Edward was sure that Bruce would not hesitate to investigate. It wasn’t too big of a deal if he was late. They could hold off announcing Damian’s presence to the world until he returned, but Edward just wanted to get the news out as soon as possible. The sooner the news was out the sooner they could deal with it and get it over with. Edward liked attention and being in the news, but this was of those times where he really didn’t want any attention. Some people would kick up a fuss at the idea of Riddler raising a baby of that Edward had no doubt. Edward really didn’t want to hear people on the gossip channels and news channels have a panic attack at the idea of him having a child under his care. 

Edward frowned a bit the thought of that. If he was being honest one of the big reasons that he was feeling so restless was because he didn’t want to deal with that drama. He knew it was coming and the fact that the drama would hit him tomorrow made it hard to even think about getting some rest. Every time he closed his eyes in an attempt to get some sleep the thought of being harassed by paparazzi and news casters quickly jumped into his head. Edward sighed as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms. 

“If you keep making loud noises like that you’ll wake the baby.” 

Edward cracks one eye open only to Leslie looking down at him. Her lips are turned upward into a small amused smile, and she has a small wooden tray in hand. Edward can smell the scent of fresh coffee drifting in the air, and that’s enough to force him to sit up. Leslie placed the tray down on the coffee table, and Edward saw that she had some sugar and cream on the try along with two cups of coffee. The second Leslie picked up her mug Edward proceeded to dump as much sugar and cream as he could into his cup. By the time he was done his coffee probably had more sugar then coffee. 

“If that’s how much sugar you usually pour into your coffee every time you have a cup I think I am officially concerned.” Leslie commented. 

“I don’t like the taste of coffee much. Tons of the sugar and cream is the only way I can stomach the stuff.”

“If you dislike it that much why do you drink it?” She asked. 

“It’s one of the few things that wakes me up and keeps me awake.” Edward said as he took a sip of coffee. 

“Hopefully you’re not as bad as Bruce in the morning.” Leslie said as she sat down on the couch next to Edward.

“God, I’ll never be that bad. Of course I don’t go out at night as much as I used to so I get more rest then Bruce usually does.” Edward said.

Leslie nodded upon hearing that, but she said nothing else. Edward didn’t miss the fact that her smile had faded a bit. As to why it had faded was anyone’s guess. Edward faintly remembered that Bruce had once mentioned that Leslie didn’t like how much he pushed himself. Edward wasn’t exactly fond of that habit either, but it’s something that Edward knew would never change. Edward was hoping that Leslie’s fading smile was due to Bruce’s desire to push himself to the limits rather than Edward hinting at his criminal past. Edward frowned as he looked down at his cup. He really didn’t want to have an awkward night tonight, but it was starting to seem like that wasn’t going to happen. 

“Hey, don’t look so down. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable at all.” Leslie said with a soft smile. 

Edward relaxed a little upon hearing that. 

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just thinking way too much.” Edward said. 

“From what I understand overthinking things is sort of your thing.” The woman said with an amused smile.

“You have no idea.” Edward muttered.

It was silent between them after Edward said that, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. Colombo was playing in the background, but Edward wasn’t really paying attention. He had a question rumbling around in his head, and he desperately wanted an answer.

 _‘Always have to have an answer to a question don’t you Ed.’_ Edward thought with a sigh. 

The sigh ended up being a bit more audible then what Edward intended. Leslie gave Edward a curious look which just made Edward decided that he should just bite the bullet and ask his question. 

“Do you mind if I asked a question?” Edward asked slowly. 

“Depends on the question.” Leslie said as she glanced over at Edward. 

“Why did you accept my relationship with Bruce so easily?” Edward blurted out. 

Leslie said nothing to the question. Instead she just put her coffee cup down onto the table and stood up. Edward watched as she walked over to the bookcases that were lining the wall nearby. She pulled out a thick blue book off of the shelf and walked back to the table. She dropped the book down onto the table before she plopped back down on the couch next to Edward. 

The book appeared to be rather old and the letters on it were so faded that Edward couldn’t read it much less guess what it may have once spelled out. Leslie opened the book and started flipping through the pages which allowed Edward to see that it was a photo album. Pages filled with old pictures of people that Edward didn’t recognize were quickly flipped through without pause. Leslie didn’t even stop for a second to even glance at any of the pictures. Most of the pictures were old black and white ones, but the second she reached the pictures that had color she stopped flipping pages. 

She smiled slightly as she pointed at one of the pictures asked “Do you recognize the people in this picture?” 

Edward looked down at the picture and started to study it. It was a picture of one woman and two men staring at the camera. They seemed to be collage aged people, and the fact that they were standing in what looked like a typical collage lecture room just seemed to confirm that theory. The black haired woman had a playful smirk on her face her blue eyes shimmering with mirth. Edward could tell that the woman was Leslie. Leslie’s black hair had long since turned gray with age, but Edward could still tell that the woman was Leslie.

The man next to her was someone that Edward knew very well. Edward had seen the painting of him and his wife enough in Wayne Manor that Edward had quickly become familiar with the man. The man in the picture was none other than Thomas Wayne. Thomas had the same general build as Bruce and the same dark black hair. However, it was the eyes that really let Edward know that it was Bruce. The man in the picture had icy blue eyes that could pierce your very soul. They were the eyes that Bruce had. They were the eyes that Damian inherited from his father. Upon thinking of his son Edward couldn’t help but smile just a bit. It was very apparent to Edward that blue eyes were rather common in the Wayne family. In the picture Thomas had a lopsided smile on his, and he looked just as happy as Leslie did in the picture. 

While he recognized Thomas and Leslie he didn’t recognize the last man in the picture. The mystery man in the photo had a huge grin on his face. His eyes seemed to be lit up with joy, and the word cheery was the only thing that Edward could think of to describe the man. Although, honestly they all looked rather cheery when you got right down to it. 

The two pages that were sitting in front of Edward were filled to the brim with pictures of the cheery trio. Most were of all three of them together. A few were pictures of Leslie with either Thomas or the Mystery Man while others were of Thomas and the Mystery Man together. Martha Wayne popped up in a few of the pictures, and she always looked like the picture of calm serenity. Her ruby red lips were always turned up into a warm smile while her baby blue eyes kindly stared up at him from her picture.

 _‘Bruce has her smile.’_ Edward thought.

Absentmindedly Edward wonders if Damian will inherit that smile just like he inherited the icy blue eyes that he got from his father. Edward looks up from the pictures to glance over at Leslie. She’s staring down at the pictures with a faint smile on her face and a faraway look in her eyes. She seemed to be getting lost in her memories. They were probably happy ones, but the slight bitterness that Edward could see made it obvious that Leslie couldn’t forget the fact that at least two of the people in the pictures were dead. Edward cleared his throat to get Leslie’s attention. Leslie looked up from the book and looked over at Edward.

“I recognized you and Thomas, but I don’t know the other man.” Edward said as he tapped his finger down on the image of the mystery man.

“I can’t say I’m surprised to hear that.” Leslie said. 

She pointed at the man and said “This man’s name is Matthew Thorne.” 

“Thorne?” Edward said in surprise. “Any relation to the mob boss Rupert Thorne?”

“Yes, Rupert is Matthew’s brother.” 

Edward was unsure of what to say to that. Rupert had been a mob boss in Gotham long before Edward became Riddler, and he was still a mob boss to this day. Although, these days Rupert didn’t have nearly as much control over the city as he used to. With people like Black Mask, Carmine Falcone, and other various mob bosses running around Rupert had to fight hard to keep ahold of what he had. Edward also knew that Two-Face had a vendetta against the guy for causing him to end up with acid to the face so due to this Two-Face liked to ruin some of Rupert’s business ventures when he could.

Edward was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Leslie say “Back in the day Rupert and Matthew had little to do with each other. Matthew didn’t approve of his brother’s occupation, and Rupert didn’t care much for his brother’s opinion.”

A small sad smile crossed her face as she said “Matthew, Thomas, and I met in collage. We got stuck doing a project for speech class. The class was mandatory, and we were not thrilled with the idea of having to come up with a presentation with people we didn’t know However, we ended up getting along fabulously and before we knew it we were as thick as thieves.”

Leslie looked up at Edward and said “We were together so much after that time that everyone started to call us the Three Musketeers. Did you know that?”

Edward just shakes his head no. It wasn’t something that Bruce had ever told him. Although, to be fair Thomas wasn’t a subject that was brought up often. Every once in a blue moon Bruce would share some fragmented memory of his parents with Edward. They were usually fond memories that Bruce had of his childhood, or tiny bits of facts about his parents that he could still remember even after all of these years. While Bruce had mentioned that Leslie was an old friend of his parents Bruce never said anything beyond that.

Leslie’s gaze falls back down to the book as she continued to talk. 

“Well, we were. During our last few years in collage Thomas met Martha. Martha fit into our group with ease. She hung out with us so much that you might as well have changed our name to the Four Musketeers.” 

The woman seemed to be slowly getting lost in her memories as she said “Every summer during our break we would back up one of Thomas’ big cars and go on a road trip. Most of the times we would stay in hotels, but sometimes we would camp out. Matthew loved camping. He was always in outdoorsy type. Martha didn’t enjoy camping at all. She always said that the only way she would camp was with a big RV.” 

The woman’s sad smile never fades as she picks up the book and slowly starts to flip through the pages. Edward could see pictures of happier times pasted onto every page. There were plenty of pictures, but his eyes always seemed to land on a pictures that had a Wayne in it. In one picture he could see Thomas, Martha, Leslie, and the Matthew fellow roasting marshmallows over a campfire. In another he could see a young Martha grinning at away as she stood in front of the Washington Monument.

“Martha may have hated camping, but she loved to travel. She always wanted to see everything that a place had to offer.” Leslie said with a sigh. 

Leslie suddenly closed the book and placed it back down onto the table.

“I’m sorry Edward I tend to get lost down memory lane when I look at my old pictures.” Leslie said. 

The woman shook her head as if in an effort to rid herself of her memories “Anyway, getting back on subject. About three years after Bruce’s parents died Rupert got shot and he went to Matthew for help. While Matthew may not have liked what his brother did with his life he loved him enough to help him and try to keep the fact that he helped a mob boss secret.”

“I’m guessing it didn’t stay secret.” Edward commented. 

“You guess right. His license was revoked.” Leslie said with a nod of her head.

Her nose wrinkled up a bit in disgust and a small frown crossed her face as she said “To this day I still don’t know why Matthew thought it was a good idea, but he ended up letting Rupert talk him into being an unlicensed doctor who treated his mob.” 

The woman sighed and said “We stopped talking after that. I couldn’t believe that Matthew would sink so low to treat gang members who killed people and shook down people for protection money.”

The woman stood up and picked the book up off of the table and started to walk toward the bookcases.

“One day Rupert kidnapped me so that I could help Matthew preform a lifesaving surgery on him. The surgery was complicated enough that Matthew couldn’t do it on his own, and I was the only one who had real experience with doing the surgery.” 

As Leslie slid the book back onto its spot on the bookcase shelf she said “Rupert planned to have me killed after the surgery was performed. When Rupert learned what they would do to me he finally said enough was enough and he helped me escape. Batman was looking for me when we escaped and was able to catch most of Rupert’s men that were involved with my kidnapping.”

Once the box was back in place Leslie turned to look at Edward.

“Things were a little hectic after that. Matthew cut all ties with Rupert, and started working on getting his license reinstated.” The woman walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Edward. 

“We started talking again, and Matthew started to volunteer at my clinic. He said he wanted to make up for his work with Rupert by helping people who can’t afford healthcare. It was a step in the right direction.” 

Leslie smiled slightly as she said “I won’t say everything was Ok after that. Things were awkward between us for a while, but Matthew worked his butt off to make up for what he did.”

Leslie looked right into Edward’s eyes as she said “I guess the point that I am trying to get to with my long rambling story is that this experience really cemented my belief that everyone deserves a second chance. You were a criminal once and nothing will change that, but you have reformed and you have been trying your best to help the city as much as you can by being a detective. You deserve to have a second chance just like Matthew did.” 

Edward couldn’t help but smile a bit as he looked away from Leslie. A second chance. That’s all he wanted from people was for them to give him a second chance. He didn’t except people to give him that chance, but he was always grateful for those who were willing to give him a chance. Honestly, he was lucky enough that most people were willing to do that and treat him like a human being. Edward had heard about Oswald's first try at reforming, and that hadn't been a pretty story that filled Edward with hope about his chances. Oswald’s first attempt at reforming only to be used as a joke by a rich woman who acted like she loved him when she really didn’t care about him. That was a horror story that Edward never forgot, and was lucky enough to avoid experiencing himself. 

“I wish the kids were as willing to give me a second chance.” Edward said after a moment of silence.

“How hard of a time are they giving you?” Leslie asked. 

“Well, Jason is...Jason.” Edward said slowly. 

Leslie chuckled upon hearing that and said “So by that you mean angry and short tempered?”

“Pretty much. I get about as much attitude as Bruce does.” Edward said. 

“He hasn’t threatened to shoot you or anything right?” Leslie asked with just a touch of concern.

“No, but he warned me that I better take good care of Damian. He didn’t say what he would do if I failed that, but the implication was there.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised to hear that.” Leslie said with a sigh. “Someone really needs to talk to that boy and tell him to stop that.”

Edward just shrugged upon hearing that. He wouldn’t be the one to talk about Jason’s anger issues. The boy sure as hell wouldn’t listen to him, so Edward wasn’t going to waste his breath. 

“What about Dick and Barbara?” Leslie asked. 

“Icy, but for the most part they try to be nice.” Edward said. “I don’t think Barbara has forgiven me yet for putting her dad in that virtual reality system back when I was still a villain.”

“Well, I can’t blame her. You almost caused Gordon to go into cardiac arrest.” Leslie said with a slight frown.

“I know.” Edward said as he looked away from Leslie and toward the TV. 

He couldn’t say that he was too proud of that moment upon looking back. He did it both so that he could get Batman into the game and Ed could challenge him. He also did it to keep Batman busy so his boys could do what they were ordered to do and not have to worry about Batman swinging in and beating the tar out of them. Of course it was only after the event happened that Edward realized that Gordon wasn’t needed to get Batman to take on Ed’s challenge. As long as the Riddler issued a challenge the Batman would take the challenge on with no hesitation.

Edward never put Gordon through something quite like that again, but Barbara had never quite forgiven him for putting her dad through the experience. Edward felt a bit bad about it now, but he felt worse over the fact that he didn’t feel as guilty about it as he should have. Honestly, his memory of the event was rather fuzzy at best. It had happened years ago before Barbara even became Batgirl. The ravages of time had caused some of the details to become a bit fuzzy, but honestly that wasn’t the only reason why he couldn’t remember it with complete clarity. 

A certain event in his life had caused him to end up in a coma and when he woke up he had lost all of his memories, and it took a full year for him to get said memories back and even then a lot of his memories were still a bit fuzzy and disjointed. Edward frowned upon thinking of the event that caused his memory loss, but he quickly dropped the thought of the event before he could think too much about it. Those days when he couldn’t even remember his own name and the only thing that most people would tell him was that he had been a bad person were an awful time.

Leslie most have easily seen how uncomfortable he was because he quickly changed the subject from what he did to Gordon by asking “How about Dick? Is he slightly better?”

“A little better. He’s just incredibly distant.”

Leslie reached out and patted Edward’s shoulder in a friendly comforting way as she said “I can’t say that they will change their minds about you anytime soon, but hang in there. Keep doing good and show the kids that you have changed for the better they will eventually come around.” 

“You really think they will?”

“I think they will. Not anytime soon maybe, but they will come around. The kids can be as frustrating as Bruce is when he won’t take it easy, but they are good kids. They are just a bit guarded, and they don’t hang out with you often so they don’t get to see how much good you do like how Bruce or Alfred does.” Leslie said. 

Edward nodded and asked “Can we change the subject to something else?” 

“Sure, what would you like to talk about?”

“Want to tell me some stories about your time with Thomas, Martha, and Matthew? Bruce doesn’t talk about them much, and I would love to know more about Bruce’s parents and I would like to know more about the guy who made you believe in giving people second chances.” Edward said with a slight smile. 

Leslie looked a little surprised to hear that, but after a few seconds had passed a soft smile appeared on her face. 

“Edward, I would love to tell you about them….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Columbo: The episode that I quoted at the beginning is from the episode "Death Hits the Jackpot".
> 
> Gordon in a virtual reality system?: If you are familiar with the episode 'What is reality?' from Batman: The Animated Series you'll know what I'm talking about. If not the in the nutshell version of this is that Riddler trapped Gordon in a virtual reality system by using the 90's version of a VR machine, or alternatively you could say he used a more high tech Virtual Boy to do the job.
> 
> Coma?: If anyone's familiar with the comics you will probably be familiar with how Edward ended up in a coma for a full year. If you aren't don't worry I'll go into more detail about this as the story goes on.


End file.
